^if1^!  j  I  ik  i/"*- 

ITCHING 


STORY  OF  G 
liARITANSHIP 


.  PATTERSON 


GIFT  OF 


H  V 
,Pa 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 


THE  HAPPY  ART 

OF 

CATCHING    MEN 

A  STORY   OF   GOOD    SAMARITANSHIP 


BY 

REV.  R.  J.  PATTERSON,  A.B.,  LL.B. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin 
Founder  of  the  Catch-My-Pal  Movement 


"From  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men" 


HODDER  &  STOUGHTON 

NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


> 


DEDICATED 
TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  AUNT, 

MBS.   HELENA  PATTERSON, 
THE  MANSE,  BRAY,  CO.  WICKLOW,  IRELAND, 

WHO  WAS  A  LOVING  MOTHER  TO  ME, 
AND  WHO,  BY  GOING  ABOUT  DOING  GOOD, 

TAUGHT  ME,  WHEN  A  BOY, 
THE  SECRET  OF  GOOD  SAMARITANSHIP ; 

ALSO  TO 

MY  DEAR  WIFE, 

WHO  URGED  ME  TO  RESIGN 

MY  MINISTRY  IN  ARMAGH 

THAT  I  MIGHT  GO  OUT  ON 

THIS  CRUSADE, 
AND  WHO,  IN  LOVING  LONELINESS, 

IS  DOING  HER  PART 
WHILE  I  WANDER  ABOUT  THE  WOBLD 


PREFACE 

THE  story  told  in  this  little  book  is  considered  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  in  the  records  of  social  reform. 
I  have  told  this  story  hundreds  of  times  all  over  Ire- 
land, and  in  many  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Holland 
and  America.  In  the  summer  of  1913  I  travelled 
twenty-one  thousand  miles  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  that  I  might  bring  its  message  of  hope  to  the 
fallen  and  to  those  who  are  lifting  the  fallen.  The 
work  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  is  recorded  not 
only  in  this  book,  but  in  countless  redeemed  lives  in 
places  so  far  apart  as  Inverness  and  Sydney,  Strat ford- 
on- A  von  and  Toronto,  Armagh  and  Kingston  (Jamai- 
ca), Arnheim  in  Holland  and  Portland  (Oregon). 

That  there  is  need  for  such  work  in  America  is  testi- 
fied by  the  fact  that  I  have  been  asked  to  come  to 
America  again  for  a  campaign  in  various  districts,  in- 
cluding two  months  in  Chicago.  Indeed,  I  have  been 
surprised  at  the  manner  in  which  social  reformers  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada  have  taken  to  the  move- 
ment. 

As  far  as  legislation  is  concerned  America  is  much 
ahead  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Local  Option  has  at 
last  begun  to  get  a  footing  in  Scotland,  as  the  Scottish 
Temperance  Act  of  1913,  which  is  a  Local  Option  Act, 
will  be  put  into  operation  in  that  country  in  1920.  It 
is  hoped  that  such  a  revolution  will  take  place  there 
through  the  Act  that  the  rest  of  the  United  Kingdom 
will  rise  and  demand  similar  treatment  at  the  hands 
of  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

But  while  the  United  States'  Legislation  is  greatly 
vii 


PREFACE 

in  advance  of  that  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  it  going 
too  far  to  say  that  it  seems  as  if  too  much  stress  is 
laid  on  legislation  and  too  little  stress  on  moral  sua- 
sion? I  have  been  told  by  some  of  the  foremost  Tem- 
perance authorities  that  the  time  for  pledge-signing 
in  America  is  long  past !  In  other  words,  the  time  for 
moral  suasion  is  long  past,  and  legislation  will  now 
complete  the  programme  of  the  Temperance  Reform- 
ers. When  I  was  in  America  in  1913  I  addressed  many 
meetings  in  connection  with  Rescue  Missions,  in  which 
I  saw  men  as  low  down  through  drink  as  any  I  have 
ever  seen  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Is  it  not  necessary 
to  get  them  to  sign  the  pledge?  Surely  moral  suasion 
is  necessary  wherever  men  and  women  are  down  or 
going  down?  Every  time  I  had  an  opportunity  of  go- 
ing along  the  streets  of  American  towns,  at  the  close 
of  my  meetings,  I  went  to  the  doors  of  the  saloons 
to  see  things  for  myself.  I  saw  that  the  saloons  were 
usually  well  filled  and,  in  many  cases,  crowded.  Wher- 
ever there  are  saloons  there  is  drinking.  Wherever 
there  is  drinking  there  is  drunkenness.  Wherever 
there  is  drunkenness  there  is  much  need  of  saving  the 
drunkards.  And  as  long  as  there  is  need  of  saving 
the  drunkards  there  is  need  of  moral  suasion.  And  as 
long  as  moral  suasion  is  applied  to  the  solution  of  the 
drink  problem  there  will  be  need  of  pledge-signing. 

But,  where  do  the  drunkards  come  from?  From 
among  the  moderate  drinkers.  In  most  cases  the  mod- 
erate drinkers  require  more  moral  suasion  than  the 
drunkards.  The  drink  bill  of  the  United  States  shows 
that  the  moderate  drinkers  can  be  counted  by  millions. 
All  these  millions  need  moral  suasion.  A  great  cam- 
paign of  pledge-signing  among  these  moderate  drinkers 
is  absolutely  necessary  if  the  United  States  are  to  be 
saved  from  the  drink  curse. 

One  Sunday  night  I  addressed  an  audience  of  about 
twelve  hundred  persons  in  a  "dry"  town.  I  asked 
every  person,  who  DID  NOT  KNOW  A  DRINKER, 

viii 


PREFACE 

to  hold  up  the  right  hand.  One  person,  an  old  man, 
held  up  his  hand.  I  asked  him,  "Do  you  mean  to  say 
you  do  not  know  a  drunkard  ?"  He  said,  "I  don't  know 
one  in  this  town."  I  then  asked  him,  "How  long  have 
you  lived  in  this  town?"  And  he  answered,  "I'm  a 
stranger  here/'  Naturally  I  remarked  to  the  meeting, 
"When  you  were  a  Vet'  town  you  drank  in  the  open. 
Now  you  are  'dry'  you  drink  on  the  sly."  Evidently 
there  was  much  "shipping"  of  drink  into  that  town. 
Wherever  there  is  shipping  of  drink  into  "dry"  towns 
or  districts  there  is  need  of  moral  suasion  and,  conse- 
quently, of  pledge-signing  campaigns,  as  well  as  in  the 
"wet"  districts. 

The  slogan  is  now  being  sounded,  "A  Saloonless 
Nation  in  1920!"  In  seven  years  what  thousands  of 
men,  women  and  children  can  be  slain  by  drink !  Must 
we  wait  on  legislation?  Can  we  not  save  thousands 
before  1920?  Will  the  hoped-for  legislation  of  1920, 
if  it  is  practically  realised,  save  the  drinkers  and 
drunkards  of  to-day?  Surely  NOW  is  the  accepted 
time  for  them?  Surely  NOW  is  the  day  of  their  sal- 
vation ? 

I  have  found  that  there  are  hundreds  of  drunkards 
who  are  only  waiting  for  someone  to  come  along  and 
lift  them  up.  Good  Samaritanship  is  not  out  of  date. 
As  in  the  United  Kingdom,  so  in  the  United  States, 
there  are  great  numbers  of  drunkards  who  are  ready 
to  stand  on  their  feet  again  if  they  are  only  asked  to 
stand.  A  campaign  of  Good  Samaritanship  among 
the  drinkers  and  drunkards  of  the  land  will  turn  all 
those  whom  it  saves  from  the  enemy  into  volunteers 
in  the  fight  for  a  Saloonless  Nation  in  1920,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  it  will,  perhaps  more  than  anything  else, 
help  to  form  that  irresistible  PUBLIC  OPINION 
against  which  the  gates  of  the  Licensed  National  Curse 
shall  not  be  able  to  stand. 

If  the  publication  of  this  little  book  in  America 
tends  in  any  way  to  bring  about  such  a  campaign,  I 

ix 


PREFACE 

shall  be  grateful  as  one  who  is  "seeing  of  the  travail 
of  his  soul." 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  to  me  that  I  have  had  to 
use  the  first  personal  pronoun  so  often ;  but  I  think  my 
seeming  egotism  will  be  forgiven  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  I  am  telling  a  story  which  gathered  about 
myself  in  a  way  that  is  a  great  and  growing  surprise 
to  me. 

I  thank  God  for  giving  me  the  story  to  tell,  and  I 
send  it  out  in  the  earnest  hope  that  it  may  help  to 
leave  the  world  at  least  a  little  better  than  it  found  it. 

ROBERT  J.  PATTERSON. 
PITTSBURGH,  PA.,  March,  1914. 


x 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  SNAKES i 

II.  "ROAST  MISSIONARY"     .       .               .       .       .  4 

III.  A  CITY'S  AWAKENING 6 

IV.  A  JOKE  TURNED  TO  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD      .       .  9 
V.  KINDLING  A  FIRE  AT  CURFEW      ....  14 

VI.  IN  DOUBLE  HARNESS     ......  18 

VII.  ECCLESIASTICAL  STARCH 22 

VIII.  SANDY  AND  UNCLE  SAM 27 

IX.  A  RARE  PARTY  AND  A  FEAST  OF  SATISFACTION    .  30 

X.  A  BOTTLE  OF  FRENCH  POLISH      ....  34 

XI.  "WE  WILL  SEE  THIS  THING  THROUGH"    .       .  37 

XII.  "THE  BUTTON  MEN" 41 

XIII.  CATCHING  THE  "INFECSHUN"      ....  44 

XIV.  THE  PUBLICANS'  PRAYER  FOR  THE  PRIEST  AND 

THE  PARSON 49 

XV.  How  THE  CAUSE  SPED  ON  ITS  WAY    ...  S3 

XVI.  THE  SOUND  OF  THE  TREAD  OF  MARCHING  FEET    .  64 

XVII.  CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  SCOTLAND       ....  68 

XVIII.  CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  ENGLAND       ....  73 

XIX.  CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  WALES 84 

XX.  CATCH-MY-PAL  BECOMING  WORLD-WIDE    .       .  87 

XXI.  A  REVIVAL  JUBILEE 100 

XXII.  DESPAIRING  OF  No  MAN 103 

XXIII.  BRANDS  FROM  THE  BURNING  .       .       .       »       .113 

XXIV.  A  TYPICAL  REPORT  FROM  A  BRANCH  SECRETARY  121 
XXV.  Two  SCOTCH  PALS 125 

XXVI.  AN  IRISH  PAL'S  STORY 134 

XXVII.  WHY  DID  THE  CHILD  FALL  DOWN  THE  STAIRS?  139 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVIII.    THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  BAR:    BEFORE  WHOSE 

BAR  DOES  HE  STAND  ? 143 

XXIX.    ATTRACTIONS,  COUNTER-ATTRACTIONS  AND  COUN- 
TER-INFLUENCES         149 

XXX.   TOUCH  THE  BUTTON 155 

XXXI.    "THREE  KINDS  OF  FLY" 163 

XXXII.    THE  POINT  OF  CONTACT 170 

XXXIII.  A  GREATER  WATERLOO 181 

XXXIV.  PUBLIC   OPINION:     WHAT  DOES   UNCLE   SAM 

SAY? 188 

XXXV.    WHAT  ARE  THE  CHURCHGOERS  DOING?     .       .  198 
XXXVI.   A  WORD  TO  THE  MODERATE  DRINKER    .       .       .210 

XXXVII.    BROOKS  BY  THE  WAY 215 

XXXVIII.   WILL  CATCH-MY-PAL  LAST?      ....  220 

APPENDIX   ,                                                   ,  225 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 


The  Happy  Art  of  Catching 
Men 


CHAPTER  I 

SNAKES 

ONE  day  as  I  was  walking  along  one  of  the  lovely 
boulevards  of  Bay  View,  Michigan,  in  August,  1913, 
two  ladies  met  me  and  stopped  me.  One  of  them 
asked  me,  "Can  you  tell  me  where  The  Wren's  Nest 
is?"  This  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  many  dainty 
little  lakeside  homes  in  that  quiet  inland  holiday  re- 
sort. I  said,  "I  have  travelled  three  thousand  miles 
from  Ireland  to  New  York,  and  another  thousand 
miles  from  New  York  to  Bay  View,  and  do  you  think 
I  have  travelled  all  those  four  thousand  miles  to  look 
for  such  diminutive  things  as  wrens'  nests  in  such  a 
prodigious  country  as  yours?" 

The  good  lady  looked  at  me  and  said,  "Are  you  an 
Irishman?"  and  I  said,  "Yes."  "And  are  you  the 
Irishman  who  is  going  to  address  our  Summer  As- 
sembly to-morrow?"  I  said,  "Yes."  She  peered  at 
me,  her  eyes  betokening  wonder.  "'So  you  are  the 
Irishman  who  is  to  speak  to-morrow?"  And  again  I 
answered,  "YES !"  The  two  ladies  then  gazed  at  me  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  me  feel  that  I  was  a  curiosity. 
As  I  parted  from  them  and,  as  they  were  still  within 
earshot,  I  heard  one  of  them  say  to  the  other,  "I  sup- 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

pose  he  will  be  talking  to  us  about  SNAKES."  All 
people  know  that  St.  Patrick  drove  the  snakes  out  of 
Ireland,  and  some  people,  when  they  hear  the  name  of 
Ireland,  think  immediately  about  St.  Patrick  and  the 
snakes. 

When  I  got  up  to  speak  at  the  Assembly  I  told  what 
the  ladies  said  the  previous  day,  and  proceeded, — 
"That  lady  who  said  she  supposed  I  was  going  to  talk 
about  snakes  was  much  nearer  the  truth  than  she 
thought  she  was.  For  I  came  from  Armagh,  the  City 
of  St.  Patrick.  Our  Irish  Patron  Saint  established 
the  Christian  Church  in  Armagh  a  thousand  years  be- 
fore Columbus  came  from  my  side  of  the  Atlantic  to 
discover  your  country  for  you.  It  has  always  been 
said  that  'Saint  Pathrick  was  a  gintleman,  and  came 
of  dacent  people.'  And  so  we  all  like  to  claim  kinship 
with  him.  Armagh  is  the  ecclesiastical  capital  of  my 
country.  The  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  lives  there,  and  the  Primate  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  lives  there.  I  was  the  senior  of 
three  young  Presbyterian  Ministers  in  the  city,  and  I 
looked  upon  myself,  though  nobody  else  did,  as  the 
Archbishop  of  the  Presbyterians.  Now,  the  Roman 
Catholics  say  that  St.  Patrick  was  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  the  Episcopalians  say  that  he  was  an  Episcopalian, 
and  the  Presbyterians  say  that  he  was  a  Presbyterian. 
And  while  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  Episcopal  Archbishop  on  the  other  side, 
were  fighting  about  the  Chair  of  St.  Patrick,  I,  as  the 
senior  Presbyterian  Minister,  quietly  SAT  in  the 
Chair.  I  claim  to  be  the  successor  of  St.  Patrick. 
It  is  said  that  St.  Patrick  drove  the  snakes  out  of  Ire- 
land. But  there  is  one  snake  he  did  not  drive  out,  the 
most  deadly  of  all  the  snakes,  the  most  poisonous  of 
all  snakes,  the  most  sneaky  snake  that  ever  wriggled 
its  way  through  Irish  grass  or  through  American  sage- 
brush. I  mean  the  DRINK  TRAFFIC.  I  am  out  to 
club  that  snake.  God  has  placed  in  my  hand  a  club 


SNAKES 

called  Catch-my-Pal,  and  I  claim  to  be  at  least  one  of 
St.  Patrick's  successors  in  this  snake  business. " 

I  proceeded  to  tell  the  Assembly  the  story  recorded 
in  the  following  chapters.  I  hope  my  appeal  resulted 
in  some  of  my  hearers  giving  up  the  drink,  and  in 
setting  them  and  others  about  doing  something  to  save 
their  fellows  who  are  in  the  coils  of  this  snake.  May 
the  reading  of  this  story  be  the  means  of  setting  many 
about  the  doing  of  SOMETHING  to  deliver  this  great 
land  from  her  greatest  curse,  so  that  she  may  be  indeed 
God's  Own  Country,  and  the  Land  of  the  Free. 


CHAPTER  II 

"ROAST  MISSIONARY" 

i 

WHEN  I  was  a  boy  at  school  I  had  a  great  desire  to  be 
an  African  missionary.  David  Livingstone  was  my 
hero.  My  chums  made  fun  of  me  and  often  told  me 
how  the  cannibals  would  eat  me.  They  called  me 
"Roast  Missionary."  Perhaps  no  boy  ever  enjoyed 
his  nickname  more  than  I  enjoyed  mine. 

I  went  into  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  with  that  desire 
still  strong  in  me.  I  passed  to  the  New  College, 
Edinburgh;  and  there,  in  the  first  budding  of  the 
Students'  Missionary  Movement,  I  dedicated  myself  to 
missionary  work,  wherever  God  would  call  me. 

Several  things  prevented  my  going  to  the  foreign 
field  when  I  left  the  Assembly's  College,  Belfast;  and, 
three  months  after  license,  I  found  myself  ordained  as 
minister  of  one  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the 
city  of  Armagh,  about  twelve  miles  from  where  I  was 
born. 

While  I  was  in  Armagh  my  ministry  was  largely 
devoted  to  fighting  the  drink  evil  and  to  fostering  the 
missionary  idea.  I  gave  so  much  attention  to  pleading 
the  cause  of  missions  that  I  was  told  by  members  of 
my  congregation  that  I  should  go  out  as  a  missionary 
myself. 

Many  a  time  I  felt  I  should  do  as  was  suggested, 
but  the  way  did  not  become  open.  My  wife's  health 
was  such  as  to  need  my  almost  constant  attention. 
But  I  began  to  feel  that  a  call  was  coming  to  leave  the 
stated  ministry  of  the  congregation.  I  was  North  of 
Ireland  Secretary  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  and 

4 


ROAST    MISSIONARY 

in  this  capacity  I  had  occasion  to  go  over  many  miles 
of  road  on  a  motor  bicycle.  Sometimes  I  rode  from 
thirty  to  sixty  miles  in  a  day,  and  in  such  journeys  I 
saw  many  tramps  on  life's  highways  and  byways,  men, 
women  and  children,  for  whose  souls  no  one  seemed  to 
care.  I  longed  to  do  something  to  seek  and  save  them. 
The  longing  became  so  intense  that  I  said  to  one  of  the 
elders  of  my  congregation  at  the  close  of  a  morning 
service  in  June,  1909:  "I  think  I'll  not  be  your  min- 
ister much  longer."  He  said :  "Why,  what  makes  you 
think  so?"  I  told  him  what  I  had  seen  along  the 
roads,  and  how  I  felt  that  I  was  getting  a  call  to  be  a 
missionary — a  missionary  to  the  tramps  of  the  country. 

A  few  weeks  after  that  Sunday  the  Catch-my-Pal 
movement  began.  I  believe  it  came  in  answer  to  my 
great  desire.  I  did  not  go  out  as  a  missionary  to  the 
tramps  on  the  road,  but  I  went  out  as  a  missionary  to 
prevent  men  and  women  from  becoming  tramps. 
Drink  is  the  chief  cause  of  trampdom,  and  I  know 
that  many  of  those  who  have  bee'n  saved  from  drink 
by  this  movement  have  been  saved  from  the  highways 
and  hedges. 

The  MISSIONARY  CALL  had  come.  I  resigned  my 
charge  in  Armagh.  If  I  have  not  become  a  "roast" 
missionary  on  a  cannibal  island  or  in  the  heart  of 
Africa,  it  is  because  there  was  another  purpose  for 
me.  The  Catch-my-Pal  movement  has  snatched  many 
a  man,  and  many  a  woman  and  child,  from  the  jaws 
of  the  cannibal,  Drink. 


CHAPTER  III 
A  CITY'S  AWAKENING 

FOR  seventeen  years  I  was  minister  of  The  Mall  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Armagh  city. 

From  the  beginning  of  my  ministry  I  was  deeply 
interested  in  temperance  work,  and  one  of  the  regrets 
of  my  heart  was  that,  while  our  temperance  meetings 
were  usually  well  attended,  I  never  saw  at  one  of  them 
a  drunk  person,  or  a  person  accustomed  to  drink  to 
excess.  Our  meetings  were  largely  attended  by  those 
who  were  predisposed  to  temperance,  and  at  the  close 
of  each  meeting  many  an  earnest  soul  must  have  felt 
that  very  little  was  done  to  save  the  fallen  or  to  re- 
deem the  neighbourhood. 

It  often  seemed  to  me  that  the  "Trade"  stood  at  its 
corners  every  day  and  every  night  and  laughed  at  most 
of  the  attempts  of  the  Church  to  dislodge  it  from  its 
position;  and  it  was  no  wonder  I  wa$  interested  in 
the  question  a  brother  minister  asked  me  one  night,  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Clerical  Club  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Armagh:  "How  is  it  that  after  nineteen  hundred 
years  of  Christian  history  the  Devil  seems  to  have  more 
power  in  the  world  to-day  than  Christ  has?"  That 
question  bothered  me  very  much.  I  could  not  get  rid 
of  it.  The  night  on  which  I  was  asked  it  I  could 
hardly  sleep.  It  was  the  first  question  knocking  at 
my  heart  on  the  following  morning ;  and,  as  I  walked 
down  the  street  and  saw  so  many  saloons  in  the  most 
ancient  Christian  city  in  the  United  Kingdom,  I  felt 
there  was  a  vital  connection  between  the  drink  question 
and  the  minister's  question.  In  my  heart  I  vowed  that 

6 


A    CITY'S    AWAKENING 

if  God  would  show  me  the  way  I  would  do  at  least  one 
man's  part  to  take  the  laugh  out  of  the  cheek  of  the 
trade.  Three  weeks  after  I  made  that  vow  the  Catch- 
my-Pal  Movement  was  born  in  that  selfsame  street. 

About  this  time  The  Pioneer  Movement,  founded 
by  Father  Cullen,  S  J.,  Dublin,  which  worked  wonder- 
ful things  in  other  parts  of  Ireland,  was  introduced  to 
Armagh  by  Father  Sheerin,  C.C.  He  became  the  talk 
of  the  city  as  he  gathered  a  great  band  of  men  and 
women  around  him  on  the  total  abstinence  platform. 
So  fast  were  the  strides  made  by  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  the  city  in  total  abstinence  reform  that  it  was  said 
the  Protestants  were  almost  at  a  standstill.  This  state 
of  matters  both  gladdened  and  saddened  me,  and  I 
became  earnest  in  prayer  that  something  might  be  done 
to  arouse  our  Protestant  population. 

I  went  to  see  Father  Sheerin  in  his  house,  and  I 
asked  him  to  come  to  see  me  in  mine.  We  were  con- 
stantly meeting  on  the  street,  and  our  talk  always 
turned  on  the  temperance  problem.  Several  times  I 
asked  him  to  let  me  know  the  secret  of  his  success  in 
dealing  with  his  people,  but  I  never  had  any  satisfac- 
tion from  him  in  our  wayside  conversations.  One  day 
I  saw  him  going  into  a  shop.  I  followed  him.  We 
talked  temperance  again.  I  put  my  hand  on  his  shoul- 
der and,  looking  him  in  the  face,  I  said : 

"Father  Sheerin,  I'll  not  let  you  out  of  this  shop 
till  you  tell  me  what  is  the  secret  r>f  your  success  in 
dealing  with  your  people  on  the  temperance  question." 

He  answered  in  his  meek  and  quiet  way :  "Well,  to 
tell  you  the  truth,  I  have  no  secret  except  just  this — 
the  people  think  I  am  in  earnest  about  it" 

That  was  all  I  got  from  Father  Sheerin.  But  it  was 
enough.  I  was  in  earnest  too,  but  not  earnest  enough. 
I  was  more  in  earnest  when  I  went  out  of  that  shop 
than  when  I  went  into  it. 

I  did  not  get  the  Catch-my-Pal  idea  from  the  priest. 
I  got  it  in  that  well-spring  of  inspiration,  the  Gospel 

7 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

of  St.  John.  Our  holy  religion  was  started  ,on  Catch- 
my-Pal  lines.  Our  Lord  caught  Andrew,  and  Andrew 
caught  Peter  and  brought  him  to  Jesus.  Then  He 
caught  Philip,  and  Philip  caught  Nathaniel  and 
brought  him  to  Jesus.  "And  He  must  needs  go 
through  Samaria."  Why?  Because  there  was  a  de- 
filed woman  coming  to  a  well,  and  He  wanted  to  catch 
and  captivate  her  for  purity  of  life. 

"Samaria's  humble  daughter, 
Who  paused  to  hear,  beside  her  well, 
Lessons  of  love  and  truth  which  fell 
Softly  as  Shiloh's  flowing  water; 
And  saw,  beneath  His  pilgrim's  guise, 
The  Promised  One,  so  long  foretold 
By  holy  seer  and  bard  of  old, 
Revealed  before  her  wondering  eyes."  (Whittier) 

When  she  was  caught  she  went  and  caught  her  pals 
and  brought  them  to  Jesus,  and  there  was  a  Revival  in 
Sychar  on  Catch-my-Pal  lines.  I  got  Catch-my-Palism 
from  Jesus. 

But  I  got  just  a  little  extra  enthusiasm  from  the 
priest,  and  it  was  that  I  needed.  It  is  that  the  minis- 
ters of  all  the  churches  need,  for  if  they  were  all  en- 
thusiastic about  the  solution  of  this,  the  biggest  social 
and  Christian  problem  of  our  day,  I  believe  the  drink 
evil  would  be  shaken  to  its  foundations  in  a  single  year. 


8 


CHAPTER  IV 
A  JOKE  TURNED  TO  THE  GLORY  OF  GOD 

I  HAD  no  more  idea  how  I  might  put  my  new  en- 
thusiasm into  practice  than  I  had  how  to  start  a  trans- 
atlantic aeroplane  service.  But,  if  an  earnest  desire  to 
DO  SOMETHING  means  prayer,  my  heart  was  filled  with 
an  earnest  prayer  for  guidance  and  wisdom.  And  an 
answer  came  to  me  in  a  way  that  was  not  to  be  mis- 
taken, on  the  1 3th  of  July,  /pop.  If  I  felt  every  day, 
as  I  went  along  the  street,  that  the  trade  was  bubbling 
over  with  laughter  at  me,  on  that  day  I  found  the  way 
to  prick  at  least  some  of  the  bubbles. 

As  everyone  knows,  the  I2th  of  July  is  a  great  day 
among  the  members  of  the  Orange  Order.  The 
Orangemen  of  Ireland  are  speedily  being  changed  into 
a  great  Total  Abstinence  Society ;  but  I  fear  it  used  to 
be  characteristic  of  some  of  them,  as  of  many  other 
Orders,  to  imbibe  somewhat  freely  on  their  annual 
holiday.  On  the  I3th  there  was  usually  much  peni- 
tence in  many  quarters,  penitence  begotten  largely  by 
soreness  of  head,  and  not  seldom  by  soreness  of  heart. 
Many  men  who  lived  perfectly  sober  lives  all  the  rest 
of  the  year  considered  they  should  have  a  little  lati- 
tude on  the  1 2th;  and  on  the  I3th  they  pulled  them- 
selves together  again.  As  a  minister  I  found  I  was 
asked  to  give  and  witness  more  pledges  in  the  second 
half  of  July  than  at  any  other  time  of  the  year. 

On  the  1 3th  of  July,  1909,  I  was  going  home  to  my 
Manse  in  the  main  street  of  Armagh,  when  I  saw  six 
men  standing  at  a  lamp-post,  around  which  it  was  the 
custom  to  talk  and  smoke.  As  I  drew  near,  one  of 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

them,  John  Elliott,  detached  himself  from  the  others, 
passed  me,  and  went  down  a  side  street.  Just  after 
passing  he  looked  back  at  me,  and,  pointing  with  his 
left  thumb  over  his  shoulder  at  the  lamp-post,  he  said, 
in  a  cheery,  jaunty  manner :  "There  are  some  men  at 
the  lamp-post,  yir  rivirince,  an5  you  ought  to  get  them 
to  sign  the  pledge."  Then  John  went  on.  His  remark 
was  seemingly  a  joke ;  but  it  was  a  joke  turned  to  the 
glory  of  God.  It  was  like  a  spark  falling  from  a 
passing  train  in  the  dry  grass  of  the  prairie,  and  soon 
the  whole  prairie  was  on  fire. 

I  called,  "John!  John!  Come  here!"  He  stopped 
and  hesitatingly  came  back  to  me.  I  said: 

"Come  along,  John,  and  let  us  see  what  we  can  do 
with  these  fellows."  And  we  two  approached  the  five. 

"Men,"  I  said,  "here  is  one  of  yourselves,  and  he 
says  he  thinks  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  I  got  you  to 
sign  the  pledge.  What  do  you  say?" 

One  said  one  thing,  and  another  said  another  thing ; 
and  after  about  ten  minutes'  talk  about  the  evils  of 
drink  and  the  blessings  of  sobriety,  I  got  the  six  to 
agree  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  sign. 

"All  right,  men,"  I  said,  "you'll  all  come  over  to  my 
house  there  with  the  white  door  and  sign  the 
pledge •• 

"Oh,  no !  your  reverence,  we  will  not  do  it  so  quick 
as  that,"  said  one. 

"But,"  I  answered.  "I  was  not  going  to  ask  you 
to  do  it  now.  I  don't  want  you  to  do  it  in  a  hurry. 
If  you  do,  you  will  likely  undo  it  in  a  hurry.  If  you 
had  not  interrupted  I  was  going  to  say  that  I  want  you 
all  to  come  together  to  my  house  on  next  Friday  eve- 
ning, at  nine  o'clock,  when  the  curfew  rings  in  the 
Cathedral  tower  up  there.  Go  home  and  think  about 
it;  talk  about  it;  pray  about  it;  and  come  with  your 
minds  made  up  on  Friday  at  nine  o'clock." 

"Well,  we'll  go  one  by  one,  your  reverence.  We'll 
not  all  go  together." 

10 


A  JOKE  TURNED  TO  GLORY  OF  GOD 

"If  you  don't  all  come  together  I  will  not  have  you 
at  all,"I  answered. 

Why  did  I  say  so?  As  my  Manse  was  in  the  centre 
of  the  city,  I  was  the  most  convenient  minister  for 
pledge-signing  purposes.  I  found  that  all  Hinds  of 
people  came  to  sign  the  pledge  with  me,  especially 
people  belonging  to  other  ministers.  I  believe  many 
persons  would  rather  sign  the  pledge  with  any  other 
minister  than  their  own,  as  it  is  not  the  part  of  the 
other  minister  to  look  after  them  to  see  whether  they 
keep  the  pledge  or  not.  I  found  also  that  many  of 
those  who  took  the  pledge  from  me  did  so,  not  because 
they  wanted  to  give  up  the  drink,  but  because  they  had 
lost  their  jobs  through  taking  too  much,  and  they 
thought  the  best  way  to  reinstate  themselves  was  to 
get  pledges  from  a  minister  to  show  to  their  employers. 
When  they  went  back  to  their  work  they  went  back  to 
their  "nibbling  and  tasting'*  till  they  were  warned 
again,  and  came  back  for  another  pledge.  After  several 
years'  experience  of  such  pledge-giving  I  believed  that, 
on  the  average,  about  seven  out  of  every  ten  persons 
who  signed  in  private  soon  broke  their  pledges,  and 
that  private  pledge-signing  was  almost  useless  as  a 
means  of  social  reform. 

I  saw  an  opportunity  at  the  lamp-post,  and  I  thank 
God  for  giving  me  the  eyes  to  see  it  and  the  hand  to 
grasp  it.  What  was  my  opportunity?  Six  men  were 
there,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "Here  are  six  men,  and  if  I 
can  get  them  all  to  sign  in  one  another's  presence,  each 
one  will  immediately  find  himself  supported  by  a  public 
opinion  formed  by  five  of  his  companions ;  and  if  one 
of  them  begins  to  go  down  he  will  find  the  arms  of  a 
brotherhood  of  five  to  buoy  him  up  in  the  day  of  his 
temptation;  by  himself  he  will  fall,  but  in  a  brother- 
hood he  will  stand/'  Then  I  felt  determined,  and  said 
in  my  heart :  "In  the  name  of  God  I'll  not  let  these 
men  go!" 

We  reasoned  and  we  wriggled  over  the  pledge-tak- 

ii 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ing  for  some  minutes,  and  at  last  I  made  my  final  ap- 
peal. "Men,  do  have  some  commonsense.  If  a  servant 
maid  in  that  house  over  there  were  going  to  light  a  fire 
with  six  dry  sticks,  and  if  she  held  one  stick  over  a  gas 
jet  till  it  was  alight  and  then  put  it  into  the  grate  by 
itself,  what  would  happen?" 

"It  would  go  out,"  said  the  men. 

"Yes,  and  if  she  did  the  same  with  the  second  stick, 
what  would  happen?" 

"It  would  go  out." 

"Yes.  And  so  it  would  be  with  each  of  the  six 
sticks.  But  if  she  arranged  some  dry  paper  properly 
in  the  middle  of  the  grate,  and  put  the  six  sticks  prop- 
erly on  the  paper,  and  the  coal  on  the  sticks,  and  then 
put  a  match  to  the  paper,  she  would  soon  have  a 
delightful  fire.  And  I  want  you  all  to  come  to  my 
house  on  Friday  next  at  curfew ;  and,  as  you  are  'dry* 
to-night  and  will  be  'drier'  on  Friday,  I'll  arrange  the 
six  of  you  together,  and  put  a  total  abstinence  match 
to  you,  and  then  we'll  have  a  lovely  total  abstinence 
fire  that  will  warm  the  heart  of  our  old  city." 

Those  six  men  were  not  drunkards.  John  Elliott, 
James  Allen,  James  Farr,  Robert  Graham,  Cecil  Mat- 
son,  and  William  Reid,  were  honourable,  respectable, 
industrious  men,  who  were  not  total  abstainers.  The 
1 2th  was  past,  and  they  were  open  to  an  appeal.  The 
appeal  came  to  them  and  they  responded  to  it.  They 
promised  they  would  come,  all  together,  for  the  light- 
ing of  the  total  abstinence  fire. 

I  bade  them  good-night,  and  went  home  with  my 
mind  and  heart  all  astir  with  a  problem.  It  was  Tues- 
day. The  men  promised  to  come  on  Friday.  Would 
they  keep  their  promise?  That  was  their  problem. 
What  should  I  do  with  them  if  they  came?  That  was 
my  problem. 

I  had  arranged  to  be  out  of  Armagh  on  the  Thurs- 
day and  Friday  to  do  work  for  the  Religious  Tract 
Society.  The  friends  of  that  Society  in  Coleraine 

12 


A  JOKE  TURNED  TO  GLORY  OF  GOD 

were  expecting  me.  I  did  not  go.  I  couldn't.  Why? 
Because  the  problem  of  the  six  men  had  me  in  its 
grip.  It  was  a  time  for  prayer,  and  I  prayed,  as  per- 
haps I  never  prayed  before,  that  the  men  might  come, 
and  for  wisdom  that  I  might  deal  wisely  with  them 
when  they  came. 


CHAPTER  V 
KINDLING  A  FIRE  AT  CURFEW 

I  DID  not  see  one  of  the  men  between  Tuesday  and 
Friday;  and  on  Friday  I  could  do  nothing  but  think 
of  them.  Would  they  come?  What  should  I  do 
with  them? 

When  the  curfew  bell  began  to  ring  at  nine  o'clock 
my  heart  began  to  thump  with  a  great  expectancy. 
Would  the  men  come?  I  waited  almost  ten  minutes. 
Would  they  come?  There  was  a  knock!  Who  was 
it?  I  ran  and  opened  the  door,  and,  there,  on  the 
doorstep,  were  the  six  men!  My  heart  rejoiced  that 
the  six  brave  men  had  kept  their  word.  I  threw  the 
door  wide  open,  welcomed  each  with  a  warm  hand- 
shake, showed  them  into  the  dining-room,  and  there, 
around  the  table,  we  seven  sat  down,  looked  at  each 
other  in  some  surprise,  and  began  our  first  Catch-my- 
Pal  Conference! 

We  settled  down  into  serious  talk,  and  I  made  this 
statement  to  the  men:  "While  it  is  the  moderate 
drinker  who  is  the  real  curse  of  the  country  as  far 
as  the  drink  problem  is  concerned — for,  if  there  were 
no  moderate  drinkers  there  could  be  no  immoderate 
ones — at  the  same  time,  it  is  the  immoderate  drinkers 
who  make  the  drink  problem  the  great,  outstanding1 
social  problem  of  our  day.  LET  THOSE  WHO 
MAKE  THE  PROBLEM  SOLVE  IT.  ^  Let  the 
drinkers  take  the  pledge  and  go  and  get  their  pals  to 
do  the  same.  Let  the  responsibility  of  saving  drinkers 
be  left  largely  on  the  shoulders  of  the  drinkers  them- 

14 


KINDLING    A    FIRE    AT    CURFEW 

selves.  Let  the  drinkers  be  inspired  with  the  idea 
that  even  they  are  their  brothers'  keepers,  and  that  even 
they  are  expected  by  God  to  leave  the  world  not  worse 
but  better  than  they  found  it." 

I  explained  as  well  as  I  could  how  men  could  not 
live  on  negatives,  and  how  something  positive  must  be 
put  before  each  man  who  wants  to  give  up  the  drink. 
I  said  that  abstinence  was  merely  negative,  that  it  was 
necessary  that  each  one  should  DO  something  along 
a  positive  line,  and  that  the  best  thing  each  one  of 
them  could  do  to  enable  him  to  keep  his  own  pledge 
was  to  try  to  get  others  to  take  the  pledge  too.  I  told 
them  what  misery  and  squalor  and  disgrace  drink  was 
causing  in  our  city,  and  that  they  could  do  much  to 
mend  matters.  They  were  surprised  when  I  told  them 
that  they  could  do  far  more  to  solve  the  drink  prob- 
lem in  the  city  than  any  six  ministers.  I  told  them 
how  we  found  in  the  South  African  War,  when  it  was 
almost  too  late,  that  the  frontal  attack  was  fatal  to 
the  success  of  our  British  arms,  and  how  we  resorted 
to  the  flank  movement,  by  which  we  won  Pretoria.  I 
told  them  how  most  men  who  drank  were  prepared 
for  the  frontal  attack  made  on  them  by  ministers; 
how  they  avoided  ministers;  and  how  all  the  bristles 
of  their  natures  stood  on  end  to  ward  off  a  minister's 
approach.  I  told  them  how  they  could  resort  to  the 
flank  movement  among  their  drinking  pals;  how  they 
could  talk  with  them,  reason  with  them,  and  appeal  to 
them,  in  a  way  that  no  minister  could  do.  "Oh,  men !" 
I  said,  "What  happiness  will  come  to  your  own  fire- 
sides if  you  make  up  your  minds  you'll  not  let  the 
drink  there  again !  And  what  happiness  you  can  bring 
to  the  firesides  of  others  if  each  one  of  you  will  go 
out  and  bring  other  drinkers  in !" 

When  I  saw  that  these  ideas  were  getting  a  hold 
of  the  men  I  ventured  to  say : 

"Men,  I'll  not  let  one  of  you  take  the  pledge  to-night 
unless  each  one  of  you  undertakes  to  go  out  and  catch 

15 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

another  fellow,  cmd  come  back  here  with  him  on  to- 
morrow night  week  at  nine  o'clock'' 

The  men  looked  at  one  another  wondering  if  they 
should  consent.  I  appealed  to  them:  "Men  go  and 
do  as  I  ask  you.  There  are  six  of  you  to-night;  and 
there  will  be  twelve  the  next  night;  and  there  will  be 
twenty- four  the  next;  forty-eight  the  next;  and  ninety- 
six  the  next;  and  in  a  few  weeks  we  shall  have  the 
whole  country-side."  I  am  now  surprised  at  the 
audacity  which  led  me  to  make  this  prophecy  which 
was  more  than  fulfilled. 

The  simplicity  of  this  programme  had  an  electrical 
effect  upon  the  men.  A  new  inspiration  filled  their 
bosoms;  a  new  vision  of  life  and  duty  their  eyes;  the 
"expulsive  power  of  a  new  affection"  began  its  work 
in  their  hearts.  They  itched  to  be  out  and  at  the  other 
fellows ! 

The  six  then  signed  a  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  and 
each  solemnly  promised  to  do  his  best  to  get  another 
and  bring  him  in.  /  asked  them  to  go  for  the  biggest 
drinkers  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  as  these  were 
the  men  who  needed  salvation  first  and  most,  and 
whom  Jesus  would  first  seek  out  and  save.  We  knelt 
down  round  the  table,  and,  in  solemn  prayer,  com- 
mended ourselves  and  the  work  to  the  blessing  of  God 
as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ. 

In  Norman  times  the  curfew  rang  that  the  fires 
might  be  put  out.  That  night  in  Armagh  city  the  cur- 
few rang  from  the  Norman  tower  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  that  a  fire  might  be  kindled  that,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  will  never  go  out.  Surely  the  Holy 
Spirit  descended  as  in  tongues  of  fire  in  that  room! 
I  feel  a  different  man  since  I  rose  from  my  knees 
that  night.  My  outlook  on  life  is  quite  changed.  I 
can  say,  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because 
He  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  Good  News  to  the 
drunkards,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that 
are  bound  in  drink."  Out  of  that  room  there  went 

16 


KINDLING    A    FIRE    AT    CURFEW 

seven  men  on  fire.  Six  went  into  the  street  to  do  their 
wonderful  work.  I  went  into  my  study  and  said  to 
my  wife,  "Do  you  know,  something  wonderful  is  going 
to  happen."  And,  by  the  grace  of  God,  the  wonder- 
ful thing  did  happen,  as  hundreds  of  transformed  fire- 
sides all  over  the  world,  but  especially  in  my  dear  old 
Ireland,  can  testify  to-day. 


CHAPTER  VI 
IN  DOUBLE  HARNESS 

I  HAD  an  anxious  and  weary  week  of  waiting  and  of 
curiosity.  On  Saturday,  24th  July,  my  heart  thumped 
even  more  vigorously  at  curfew  than  it  did  on  the  i6th. 
But  the  week's  wait  was  worth  while.  I  was  not  dis- 
appointed. I  had  trusted  the  men,  and  I  had  my  re- 
ward. A  few  minutes  after  nine  o'clock  I  heard  the 
expected  knock.  Again  I  ran  to  the  door.  There,  on 
the  step,  were  eleven  men.  One  of  the  first  six  could 
not  come,  owing  to  his  mother's  illness ;  but,  if  Robert 
Graham  did  not  catch  his  pal  and  bring  him,  he  caught 
his  pal  and  sent  him.  He  was  with  us  in  spirit;  so 
I  had  twelve  men.  My  first  Apostles  carried  out  my 
instructions  almost  to  the  letter,  for  they  brought  in 
some  of  the  greatest  drinkers  in  the  city.  These  men 
signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge,  and  each  one  under- 
took to  bring  in  another.  When  they  had  signed  we 
had  our  second  conference. 

I  suggested  that  we  should  form  ourselves  into  a 
society.  One  man  said:  "Let  us  wait  for  two  or 
three  weeks  till  we  get  in  more  men,  and  then  we'll 
form  ourselves  into  a  society."  But  when  I  said  that 
our  Lord  did  not  wait  till  He  had  a  crowd  of  men 
around  Him  before  He  formed  a  society,  but  formed 
one  with  twelve  men,  whom  He  sent  out  to  turn  the 
world  upside  down,  and  that  we  could  go  out  as 
Apostles  of  Total  Abstinence  and  turn  our  city  upside 
down  as  far  as  public  opinion  and  practice  in  relation 
to  the  drink  evil  were  concerned,  nothing  could  keep 

18 


IN    DOUBLE    HARNESS 

the  men  from  being  formed  into  a  society.     So  we 
decided  by  resolution  to  form  one  there  and  then. 

//  you  want  to  get  a  number  of  men  to  do  something 
out  of  the  ordinary  line,  tell  them  what  great  men 
they  are,  what  great  things  they  can  do,  and  what 
great  things  you  expect  them  to  do;  and,  if  they  do  not 
carry  out  your  whole  programme,  they  will  do  far 
more  than  ever  they  would  have  done  if  you  had  not 
"blown  a  head"  on  them. 

Then  we  had  to  choose  a  name  for  our  society.  I 
suggested  "Protestant  Total  Abstinence  Union,"  and 
urged  this  name  for  the  following  reasons.  I  told  the 
men  I  was  not  so  narrow  as  to  glory  in  sectarian  dif- 
ferences, but  that  where  a  judicious  use  could  be  made 
of  such  differences,  in  a  good  cause,  we  ought  to 
make  such  use  of  them.  So  I  said  we  could  not  but 
admire  how  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  were- 
making  such  strides  on  the  highway  of  total  abstinence, 
and  that  it  was  for  us  to  get  on  the  same  highway, 
overtake  them,  and,  if  possible,  outstrip  them.  The 
spirit  of  competition  entered  the  blood  of  the  men  as 
they  entered  the  ranks  of  the  new  society. 

I  said :  "There  will  be  no  mention  of  Episcopacy, 
or  of  Methodism,  or  of  Presbyterianism,  or  of  any 
other  'ism/  in  our  society.  Episcopacy  as  such  will 
never  save  the  world;  Methodism  as  such  will  never 
save  the  world;  Presbyterianism  as  such  will  never 
save  the  world;  no  'ism'  as  such  will  ever  save  the 
world.  But  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  in  each  'ism' — THA  T 
will  save  the  world,  and  we  will  all  take  our  stand  on 
a  common  platform  of  a  united  Protestantism  for  the 
sake  of  social  reform.  The  churches  have  been  going 
for  one  another's  throats  far  too  long,  with  regard  to 
petty  details  that  will  be  as  chaff  before  the  wind  on 
the  judgment  day.  Let  us  cease  going  for  one  another, 
and  unite  in  going  for  the  throat  of  the  common 
enemy,  the  drink  evil." 

We  decided  to  call  our  society  "The  Armagh  Protes- 

19 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

tant  Total  Abstinence  Union."  After  some  weeks  the 
movement  extended  beyond  our  city  boundaries,  and 
we  changed  the  name  to  'The  County  Armagh  Prot- 
estant Total  Abstinence  Union."  Then,  when  it  went 
outside  the  boundaries  of  the  county,  we  enlarged  the 
name  by  clipping  part  of  it  off,  and  called  it  "The 
Protestant  Total  Abstinence  Union,"  a  name  we  could 
go  with  anywhere. 

Some  of  our  critics  think  the  society  should  have 
been  placed  on  a  basis  broad  enough  to  include  our 
Roman  Catholic  fellow  countrymen.  All  true  social 
reform  work  is  religious;  and  as  temperance  reform 
aims  at  the  salvation  of  men's  bodies,  and  our  bodies 
are  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  true  temperance 
reform  work  must  be  religious.  The  temple  can  be 
cleansed  by  Him  only  Whose  temple  it  is.  I  wanted 
this  movement  to  be  a  distinctly  religious  one  from 
the  first,  and  I  hope  it  will  continue  to  be  so.  In  fact 
I  consider  it  must  continue  to  be  so  if  it  is  to  continue 
to  exist.  The  Roman  Catholics  have  their  own  Tem- 
perance Societies,  such  as  The  Pioneer  Movement, 
The  League  of  the  Cross,  the  League  of  St.  Patrick, 
The  Father  Mathew  Society,  etc.,  and  I  understand 
they  are  run  on  religious  lines.  Roman  Catholics  have 
their  way  of  approaching  God,  and  we  Protestants 
have  our  way  of  approaching  God,  in  devotional  and 
other  religious  exercises.  And,  as  Protestants  and 
Roman  Catholics  cannot  unite  on  the  same  devotional 
platform  for  prayer  and  praise  and  reading  of  Scrip- 
ture and  Gospel  Temperance  Addresses,  /  thought  it 
would  be  better  to  have  a  platform  so  narrow  as  to 
embrace  all  Protestants  in  religious  union  than  to  have 
one  so  broad  as  to  embrace  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
have  no  religious  union  at  all. 

There  is  no  rivalry  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
Temperance  Societies  and  The  Protestant  Total  Absti- 
nence Union  except  that  of  desire  to  save  our  land 
from  drink.  Indeed,  I  might  say  that  if  we  are  not 

20 


IN    DOUBLE    HARNESS 

working  in  one  organisation,  and  driving  in  single 
harness,  we  are  driving  along  our  Irish  city  streets 
and  Irish  highways  in  double  harness,  and  I  think  we 
make  a  rather  attractive  pair.  In  Lurgan  the  Master 
of  every  Orange  Lodge  became  a  member  of  the 
Union.  At  a  great  meeting  of  the  Lurgan  branch 
a  resolution  was  passed  congratulating  the  local  parish 
priest  upon  his  good  work  on  behalf  of  total  absti- 
nence; and,  in  reply,  the  priest  wrote  a  letter  of  thanks 
and  wished  the  Catch-my-Pal  Union  God-speed  in  its 
endeavour  to  put  down  intemperance.  Many  Roman 
Catholics,  priests  and  laymen,  have  expressed  their 
satisfaction  with  our  work,  and  we  wish  them  every 
blessing  in  all  attempts  to  drive  from  our  beloved  land 
the  blackest  curse  that  has  ever  blighted  her  fair  face. 
Having  formed  our  Society  and  chosen  our  name, 
we  determined  to  go  on  with  the  work.  I  told  the 
men  on  that  Saturday  night  that  men  were  being  lost 
and  that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  saving  them;  that 
I  wanted  them  to  go  out  and  catch  their  pals  and  bring 
them  in  to  me  on  the  following  Monday  night  at  half- 
past  nine  o'clock.  The  second  batch  of  six  caught  fire! 
Twelve  apostles  of  total  abstinence  knelt  down  round 
the  table  to  pray,  and  rose  up  to  spread  the  fire. 


21 


CHAPTER  VII 
ECCLESIASTICAL  STARCH 

"PROTESTANT  Total  Abstinence  Union*'  is  our  respect- 
able, official  name.  It  is  our  "Sunday-go-to-meeting' ' 
name.  People  usually  feel  somewhat  confined  in  their 
Sunday  clothes.  To  do  hard,  honest  work,  on  Mon- 
day, we  must  get  out  of  our  Sunday  garb  and  roll  up 
our  sleeves;  and,  as  this  movement  soon  proved  itself 
very  aggressive,  I  found  it  necessary  to  clothe  it  in 
some  name  suggestive  of  such  a  spirit. 

On  high  days,  and  in  official  circles,  we  still  are 
garbed  in  the  name  "Protestant  Total  Abstinence 
Union,"  but,  in  this  "touch-the-button"  age,  life  is 
too  quick  and  too  short  to  have  time  wasted  in  using 
high-sounding  titles.  So  I  sat  down  one  day  to  weave 
a  little  short  jacket  for  the  movement  with  the  keys 
of  my  typewriter.  And  when  I  had  it  woven  I  saw 
in  the  warp  and  woof  of  it  the  name  CATCH-MY- 
PAL. 

Where  did  I  get  the  name  ?  Christianity  is  a  fisher- 
man's movement.  Our  Lord  said  to  Peter:  "From 
henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men."  I  took  the  word 
"catch"  from  the  lips  of  Jesus.  This  is  a  fisherman's 
movement  within  the  Churches.  For  successful  fishing 
we  must  put  on  our  hook  the  bait  which  will  attract 
the  fish  we  want  to  catch ;  and,  as  the  word  "pal"  is 
used  largely  among  men  who  drink  with  one  another, 
especially  in  great  centres  of  population,  I  thought  it 
was  the  word  for  me.  So  I  called  the  movement  by 
the  name  Catch-my-Pal. 

I  thank  the  God  of  all  wisdom  for  giving  me  this 

22 


ECCLESIASTICAL    STARCH 

name  for  the  work.  It  arouses  people's  curiosity.  It 
makes  them  talk,  for  it  catches  their  tongues.  It  can 
be  applied  in  innumerable  ways  to  all  departments  of 
life.  It  looks  quaint  on  a  placard.  Two  ladies  were 
passing  down  the  street  of  an  English  town  in  a  tram 
car.  There  was  a  large  poster  on  a  wall,  announcing 
one  of  my  meetings.  One  lady  said  to  the  other :  "Do 
you  know  anything  about  this  thing  called  Catch- 
my-Pal?  Do  you  know  if  it  is  a  new  play?  Is  it  a 
Drama?" 

I  do  not  believe  the  movement  would  have  spread 
so  widely  in  so  short  a  time  had  it  not  been  for  this 
simple  name. 

Many  objections  have  been  raised  to  the  name. 

A  minister  in  Scotland,  when  preaching  a  temper- 
ance sermon  in  1910,  referred  to  "a  great  temperance 
movement  going  on  over  in  Ireland  just  now,  whose 
name  I  refu-u-u-u-se  to  mention  in  this  pulpit  1" 

A  certain  Irish  bishop  declared  "the  name  was  vul- 
gar, and  savoured  of  the  gutter  and  the  corner-boy." 

A  lady  in  a  luxuriously- furnished  drawing-room 
was  asked  by  a  minister  much  interested  in  the  move- 
ment :  "Have  you  joined  the  Catch-my-Pals  yet  ?"  She 
stiffened  herself  up  in  the  most  approved  duchess 
mariner,  folded  her  arms,  and  exclaimed:  "Oh,  no!" 

"And  why  have  you  not  joined  the  movement  yet?" 
inquired  the  minister. 

"Ugh!  On  account  of  the  name,  you  know.  Ifs 
so  vulgar!" 

I  fear  that  much  of  our  Church  and  social  reform 
work  is  half  damned  with  too  much  dignity.  Too 
much  of  it  is  steeped  in  the  hue  of  patronage.  We 
can  never  patronise  a  man  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Thank  God!  there  is  still  enough  manliness  and 
womanliness  in  the  bosoms  of  the  worst  of  us  to  detect 
the  spirit  of  patronage  whenever  and  wherever  it 
would  lift  up  its  vulgar  head  over  us,  and  to  resent 
it  and  resist  it.  But,  if  we  cannot  patronise  a  soul 

23 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

into  the  kingdom,  there  are  many  souls  on  the  verge  of 
the  kingdom  and  we  must  beware  lest  we  patronise 
them  away  from  it.  The  sooner  we  get  the  ecclesias- 
tical starch  out  of  our  collars,  the  better  for  ourselves 
and  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  not  ministers  of 
whom  I  write,  for  /  have  seen  more  ecclesiastical 
starch  in  the  pews  than  ever  I  saw  in  the  pulpit.  The 
time  is  coming  quickly  when  this  starch  will  not  be 
tolerated  within  the  Church. 

But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  nothing  vulgar  will  ever 
be  tolerated  within  the  Church  of  Christ.  Some  things 
may  seem  vulgar  in  our  eyes  which,  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  are  things  of  beauty.  And  "what  God  hath 
cleansed  that  call  not  thou  common."  God  can  lift 
the  poor  out  of  the  dunghill  and  set  him  among 
princes.  And  what  He  can  do  with  men  He  can  do 
with  words.  The  word  "pal"  is  looked  upon  by  fas- 
tidious people  as  slang;  but  what  would  they  say  if 
they  met  it  among  the  prince- words  of  the  dictionary  ? 
It  is  going  up  among  those  words  to-day. 

A  learned  Roman  Catholic  priest  whom  I  met  at  a 
general  temperance  meeting  in  London,  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  linguists  in  England,  said  to  me 
on  the  public  platform :  "Don't  you  mind  what  people 
say  to  you  about  that  word  'pal/  If  any  one  says  to 
you  that  that  word  is  vulgar  he  is  only  showing  his 
own  ignorance;  for  it  is  a  Sanscrit  word  of  good 
standing;  it  comes  to  us  from  India  through  the  gyp- 
sies ;  and  it  is  as  old  as  any  Greek  or  Latin  word  you 
ever  read  or  heard  of." 

When  crossing  the  Atlantic  from  America  I  got  into 
intimate  touch  with  a  young  Brahman,  on  his  way  back 
to  India.  He  told  me  that  the  Sanscrit  word  pal  did 
not  mean  chum  or  companion  so  much  as  it  meant  a 
friend,  or  one  who  stoops  down  to  do  another  a  good 
turn. 

A  retired  Indian  Medical  Missionary  told  me,  when 
in  Scotland,  that  the  word  pal  was  defined  in  his  San- 

24 


ECCLESIASTICAL    STARCH 

scrit  dictionary  as  a  keeper,  one  who  shepherds  or 
looks  after  another. 

When  an  organisation  has  proved  itself  to  be  an 
instrument  in  God's  hand  for  the  salvation  of  men, 
professing  Christians  should  not  give  it  the  cold  shoul- 
der simply  because  of  its  name.  There  are,  I  sup- 
pose, still  some  people  who  object  to  what  Samson 
did  to  deliver  his  land  from  the  hand  of  the  Philis- 
tines, because  the  instrument  he  used  had  a  not  very 
literary  name.  As  far  as  literary  quality  goes  I  may 
assume  that  Catch-my-Pal  will  compare  favourably 
any  day  with  "the  jawbone  of  an  ass,"  at  any  rate. 

In  answer  to  the  Scotch  minister  I  may  say  that  the 
movement  whose  name  so  upset  him  has  been  going, 
is  going,  and  will  go  on  without  his  aid  or  patronage. 

In  answer  to  the  bishop  I  may  say  the  name  is  not 
vulgar;  it  does  not  savour  of  the  gutter  and  the  cor- 
ner-boy. But  assume  for  the  moment  that  it  does, 
there  are  hundreds  of  men  and  women  and  children 
who  can  stand  up  to  testify  and  thank  God  that  the 
movement  of  which  Catch-my-Pal  is  the  name  has 
already  saved  many  a  corner-boy  and  many  a  corner- 
girl  OUT  of  the  gutter.  That  is  enough  for  me,  and 
it  should  be  enough  for  the  bishop. 

The  bishop,  quite  unconsciously,  gave  the  movement 
the  highest  commendation.  There  are  men  and  women 
in  the  gutters.  There  are  corner  boys  and  corner 
girls.  By  all  means  we  must  try  to  save  them,  and 
if  the  name  of  this  society  so  appeals  to  them  as  to 
win  them,  will  the  bishop,  as  a  Christian  shepherd, 
sit  upon  his  dignity  and  refuse  to  rejoice  that  even 
by  a  society  with  such  a  vulgar  name  the  lost  are  being 
sought  and  saved? 

But  where  some  minds  grovel  among  words  and 
scent  nothing  but  vulgarity,  other  minds  penetrate  to 
their  spirit  and  detect  their  nobility.  At  one  of  our 
great  Catch-my-Pal  Church  Parades  on  a  Sunday 
afternoon  in  Armagh  Cathedral  in  1910,  that  grand 

25 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

old  man  of  Irish  Christendom,  Primate  Alexander, 
who  had  one  of  the  most  refined  minds  and  the  sweet- 
est literary  instincts  among  the  ministers  of  Christ  in 
the  Three  Kingdoms,  said  in  his  own  magnificent  man- 
ner: "I  am  glad  that  this  name,  Catch-my-Pal,  has 
been  given  to  this  movement,  because  it  has  got  a  half 
playful  twang  about  it  which  appeals  to  the  popular 
imagination."  With  his  imprimatur  on  it,  I  do  not 
much  care  what  anybody  may  say  about  the  name. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SANDY  AND  UNCLE  SAM 

MANY  friends  have  sorely  strained  their  vocabularies 
in  trying  to  improve  the  name  of  the  crusade. 

A  Scotch  friend  started  the  work  in  his  town,  and 
asked  me  to  address  a  meeting.  On  my  way  to  his 
house  from  the  station  I  was  much  amused  to  find  the 
walls  placarded  with  enormous  posters  proclaiming 
that  I  was  to  address  a  meeting  of  "The  Catch-my- 
Brother  Total  Abstinence  Union" !  I  stood  and  looked 
at  each  poster  and  said  "Catch-my-Br-r-r-r-ither-r- 
r-r!" 

When  sitting  at  tea  with  my  friend  I  asked  him  why 
he  gave  such  a  name  to  the  society. 

"Ah,  well,  ye  see  we  didn't  think  the  name  Catch- 
my-Pal  would  take  over  here  in  Scotland/' 

"Are  there  any  women  in  Scotland  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  he. 

"Are  there  any  women  in  your  town?"  said  I. 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Will  there  be  any  women  at  the  meeting  to-night?" 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "if  there  are  women  at  your  meet- 
ing to-night,  I'll  have  them  into  the  society.  The 
women  are  coming  into  it  in  scores  and  hundreds  all 
over  Ulster.  I  suppose  you  will  call  their  section  of 
the  work,  'Catch-my-Sister'  ?  Now,  who  is  going  to 
catch  the  sister?  Will  a  sister  catch  a  sister?  Or 
will  a  brother  catch  a  sister?  And  if  it  is  the  brother 
who  is  to  catch  the  sister,  will  you  please  tell  me  whose 
brother  is  to  catch  the  sister?  Besides,  if  you  adopt 

27 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

this  plan  you  must  go  round  the  whole  gamut  of  the 
family  relationship,  and  name  each  section  according 
to  the  batch  of  relations  you  put  into  it.  One  section 
will  be  called  'Catch-my-Brother,'  and  another  'Catch- 
my-Sister';  another  'Catch-my-Uncle,'  and  another 
'Catch-my-Aunt' ;  another  'Catch-my-Grandmother,' 
and  another  'Catch-my-Great-Grandmother' ;  and  the 
most  interesting  section  of  all  will  be  the  one  called 
'Catch-my-Mother-in-law !'  And  in  connection  with 
that  section  the  question  very  naturally  crops  up, 
'And  what  on  earth  shall  I  do  with  her  when  I  catch 
her?'" 

"Oh,  well  then/'  said  he,  "if  that's  the  way  of  it,  I 
suppose  we  had  better  call  it  Catch-my-Pal." 

So  Catch-my-Pal  it  was;  and  Catch-my-Pal  it  is; 
and  Catch-my-Pal  it  shall  be. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  variation  I  have  heard 
comes  from  the  lips  of  Uncle  Sam.  An  American 
gentleman  was  recently  in  Belfast.  In  conversation 
with  a  Belfast  friend  he  said,  "I  guess  this  is  a  great 
Temperance  movement  you  have  over  here  just  now. 
I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  it  since  I  came  to  your 
country ;  and  before  I  go  back  across  the  Herring  Pond 
again  I  guess  I'll  join  these  Tick-me-Ups'  myself." 

A  short  while  after  the  movement  started  a  rector 
in  Lisburn,  near  Belfast,  went  to  see  a  young  man 
belonging  to  his  congregation.  The  young  man  was 
not  at  home,  but  his  mother  was  there.  The  rector 
asked  where  her  son  was,  and  she,  forgetting  the  name 
Catch-my-Pal,  but  remembering  the  two  hands  on  her 
son's  badge,  said,  "I  can't  tell  you  where  he  is,  but  I 
think  he  has  gone  down  to  a  meeting  of  The  Shake- 
my-Paw  Society." 

As  long  as  there  is  an  unreclaimed  drunkard  in  the 
land  there  is  still  a  life  to  be  picked  up  for  purity  and 
for  God.  As  long  as  people  go  on  with  the  picking  up 
work  of  Good  Samaritanship  it  does  not  matter  by 
what  name  the  work  is  called.  As  long  as  there  are 

28 


SANDY    AND    UNCLE    SAM 

X 

friendless  ones  out  by  life's  highways  and  hedges 
there  is  need  of  the  extending  of  a  hand  of  love  from  a 
heart  of  sympathy.  It  would  be  well  if  there  was  more 
of  the  "Shake-my-Paw"  habit  in  our  community.  In 
God's  name  let  no  one  stand  aloof  from  a  movement 
simply  because  of  its  name,  if  that  movement  is  prov- 
ing itself  successful  in  picking  up  God's  lost  children. 
It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  me  whether  my  readers 
call  themselves  "Catch-my-Pals"  or  "Pick-me-Ups," 
or  "Shake-my-Paws,"  or  spurn  these  names,  as  long  as 
they  catch  their  fallen  brothers  and  sisters  and  pick 
them  uo  for  God  and  Home  and  Country. 


CHAPTER   IX 
A  RARE  PARTY  AND  A  FEAST  OF  SATISFACTION 

ON  the  following  Monday  evening,  at  nine  o'clock,  a 
lady  of  my  congregation  came  in  to  speak  to  me  about 
a  forthcoming  bazaar.  We  talked  about  it  for  some 
time,  and  as  I  was  anxious  about  the  men's  coming  I 
was  also  anxious  about  the  lady's  going.  I  made 
several  suggestions  to  her  in  as  tactful  a  way  as  I  could, 
that  it  was  really  time  she  was  going  away ;  but  I  could 
not  get  her  to  budge.  She  was  talking  about  a  bazaar. 
At  twenty-five  minutes  past  nine  I  heard  a  knock  at 
my  door.  I  thought  the  lady  would  go  at  last,  but  she 
did  not  budge.  She  was  talking  about  a  bazaar.  I  ran 
out  to  the  door  and  found  John  Elliott  on  the  step. 
I  asked  him  in,  and  he  said : 

"Yir  rivirince,  what  hour  did  ye  say  we  were  to  be 
here?" 

"Half-past  nine,  John." 

"All  right,  yir  rivirince,  we  have  our  men,  we  have 
our  men!"  As  he  said  this  he  went  backwards  to- 
wards the  door  and  disappeared.  I  shut  the  door  and 
went  in  to  get  the  lady  out.  She  would  not  budge. 
She  was  talking  about  a  bazaar. 

I  lived  through  a  small  eternity  during  those  five 
minutes.  As  the  post-office  clock  was  nearly  opposite 
my  house,  the  men  were  punctual  to  the  moment.  At 
half-past  nine  I  heard  another  knock.  I  jumped  up 
and  ran  to  the  door,  forgetting  all  about  the  lady  and 
the  bazaar.  When  I  opened  the  door,  I  found  a  crowd 
of  men  standing  round  it;  so  I  threw  the  door  wide 

30 


A    RARE    PARTY    AND    A    FEAST 

open  and  asked  them  to  come  in,  saying:  "This  is 
grand!  men,  this  is  simply  grand!  I'm  delighted  to 
see  you.  This  is  grand!" 

The  men  walked  in  in  Indian  file.  When  the  lady 
heard  the  sound  of  the  tread  of  marching  feet  in  the 
hall,  she  budged,  came  to  the  door  of  the  room,  and 
stood  there,  while  thirty-one  men  wheeled  round  her 
into  the  room  and  took  up  positions  all  around  it. 
There  the  men  stood,  and  there  the  lady  stood  gazing 
at  them. 

After  all  I  was  glad  she  had  not  gone  home.  Why? 
Because  it  was  not  long  till  all  Armagh  heard  about 
the  wonderful  party  his  reverence  had!  For  I  have 
heard  that  if  a  woman's  heels  were  as  quick  as  her 
tongue  she  could  catch  lightning  enough  to  light  the 
fire  in  the  morning;  and  I  have  also  heard  of  a  hus- 
band who  lived  on  most  affectionate  terms  with  his 
wife,  but  did  not  speak  to  her  for  five  days — because 
he  did  not  like  to  interrupt  her.  I  do  not  believe  these 
things,  but  I  have  heard  them. 

Having  said  good-night  to  the  lady  I  returned  to  the 
men,  and  found  that  some  of  the  biggest  boozers  and 
bursters  and  topers  and  soakers  of  the  city 
had  been  brought  in.  The  bigger  the  drinker  the  more 
applause  he  got  as  he  came  to  the  end  of  the  table  to 
sign  the  pledge.  All  the  new  men  signed  amidst  a 
scene  of  wild  hilarity,  and  I  am  sure  the  people  passing 
by  on  the  footpath  must  have  been  saying:  "His 
reverence  is  having  a  rare  old  time  of  it."  Certainly  I 
had  a  rare  time.  I  question  if  any  minister  ever  had 
a  rarer  party  at  his  dining-room  table  than  I  had  that 
night.  There  were  several  men  present  that  night  who 
were  the  despair  of  ministers  and  police  alike,  and 
several  others  who  had  broken  the  hearts  of  their  wives 
and  children. 

When  all  had  signed,  I  said :  "Men,  you  are  sitting 
there  three  on  a  chair,  and  you  have  not  room  to  kneel 

31 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

down.  Will  you  all  please  stand  up  and  bow  your 
heads  and  let  us  pray?"  They  all  rose  up,  and  some 
reserve  men,  to  the  manner  born,  stood  at  atten- 
tion! 

At  the  close  of  the  prayers  I  saw  the  tears  running 
down  some  of  the  men's  cheeks,  and  I  felt  that  if  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  anywhere  in  the  world  He  was 
in  my  dining-room  that  night,  with  the  old  power  "to 
seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,"  and  that  He 
was  seeking  and  saving  those  men  who  were  there  and 
then  coming  to  the  Father  by  Him.  I  had  such  joy 
in  my  own  bosom,  and  saw  such  joy  in  the  faces  of  the 
men  who  brought  in  those  great  drinkers,  that  I  could 
not  help  thinking,  "if  this  is  the  sort  of  joy  that  Jesus 
was  looking  forward  to  on  the  other  side  of  the  Cross, 
it  is  no  wonder  it  was  said  of  Him,  'Who  for  the  joy 
that  was  set  before  Him  endured  the  Cross,  despising 
the  shame/  ' 

When  we  began  to  decide  how  we  should  conduct 
our  meetings  I  suggested  that  someone  should  pro- 
pose that  all  meetings  be  opened  and  closed  with  re- 
ligious exercises.  A  young  man  who  had  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  great  drunkard  got  up  (he  was  under 
the  influence  of  drink  at  the  time)  and  said:  "Yir 
A  rivirince,  I  propose  that  all  our  meetin's  be  opened  with 
"singin'  and  prayer."  That  proposition  was  seconded 
and  passed,  and  became  the  pivot  on  which  the  move- 
ment turned  as  a  religious  instrument  in  social  reform. 
The  man  who  proposed  it  is  not  a  drinker  to-day. 

I  have  enjoyed  many  good  things  at  my  dining-room 
table,  but  never  did  I  enjoy  such  a  feast  of  satisfaction 
in  the  very  depths  of  my  being  as  on  that  wonderful 
Monday  night.  The  experience  and  the  memory  of  it 
I  have  as  my  heritage  for  ever ;  they  are  the  rejoicing 
of  my  heart. 

I  said  to  the  men:  "We  can't  meet  here  again. 
Thank  God,  this  place  is  too  small.  We'll  meet  in  the 
hall  beside  my  church  in  Gosford  Place  at  a  quarter- 

32 


A    RARE    PARTY    AND    A    FEAST 

past  eight  o'clock  on  next  Friday  evening.  Go  out 
and  scour  the  town  and  turn  up  with  your  men."  And 
away  those  men  went,  helter-skelter,  with  all  the  joy 
of  a  batch  of  boys  rushing  out  to  a  football  match  on 
a  Saturday  afternoon ! 


33 


CHAPTER   X 
A  BOTTLE  OF  FRENCH  POLISH 

SOME  of  the  thirty-one  men  who  came  to  me  on  the 
third  night  of  the  crusade  had  very  remarkable  his- 
tories of  debauch.  One  of  them  gave  me  more  insight 
into  the  character  of  the  men  I  was  dealing  with  than 
any  other  man  I  met  in  Armagh.  For  some  years  I 
had  been  trying  to  get  him  to  give  up  drinking,  but 
without  success.  As  far  as  I  could  see  there  was  no 
way  for  him  to  get  out  into  a  sober  life.  In  the  course 
of  a  conversation  with  him  two  years  after  he  signed 
the  pledge,  he  said:  "Four  days  after  I  signed  yir 
pledge,  yir  rivirince,  I  wint  to  a  public  house  to  help 
the  publican  to  blend  whiskies.  Ye  see  I'm  a  gineral 
handy  man,  an'  make  my  livin'  by  takin'  a  turn  at  en- 
nything.  Some  ov  the  fellas  tould  me  not  to  go,  as  I 
cuddent  kape  the  pledge  I  had  tuk.  But  I  wint,  an'  I 
helped  to  blend  wan  hunner  an'  twinty  gallons,  yir 
rivirince,  an'  I  niver  touched  a  drap  ov  it.  An'  I  have 
nivir  touched  a  drap  since,  yir  rivirince,  by  the  grace 
of  God.  I  pray  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  help  me, 
an'  He  does  help  me.  An'  ye  know  what  soort  of  a 
characthur  I  wuz  before  I  tuk  yir  pledge.  Why,  yir 
rivirince,  I  wuz  in  jail  wi'  drink,  an'  I  wuz  in  the 
workhouse  wi'  drink,  an'  I  wuz  in  the  asylum  wi' 
drink,  an'  I  wuz  in  the  gutthers  fur  years  wi'  drink,  an' 
there  wuz  wan  night  I  wuz  that  dhrunk  I  diddint 
know  what  I  wuz  doin'.  An'  d'ye  know  what  I  did  do, 
yir  rivirince?" 

"No,"  said  I. 

"Well,  I  swallied  a  whole  bottle  ov  French  pollis 

34 


A    BOTTLE    OF    FRENCH    POLISH 

and  mithilated  spirits,  yir  rivirince,  an'  I  wuz  very 
bad." 

"I'm  sure  you  were,"  said  I. 

"I  wuz  that,"  said  he.  "Ye  know  where  I  live,  yir 
rivirince?" 

"I  do,"  said  I. 

"Well,  yir  rivirince,  I  wuz  that  bad  that  two  chaps 
come  to  take  me  up  to  the  infermary  on  the  tap  ov 
the  hill,  an'  d'ye  know,  I  wuz  that  bad  I  fell  dead  sivin 
times  between  my  own  house  an'  the  infermary.  It's 
a  fact,  yir  rivirince,  I  fell  dead  sivin  times.  An'  when 
the  fellas  got  me  to  the  infermary,  the  docthur,  he 
puts  me  on  the  operaytin'  table;  an'  there  wuz  nurses 
there,  an'  the  maythrun  wuz  there,  an'  the  docthur  wuz 
there,  an'  I  wuz  there,  an'  we  wur  all  there.  The 
docthur,  he  begins  to  operate  with  a  stomach  pump; 
an'  I  dunno  what  happened,  yir  rivirince,  but,  by  the 
hokey,  part  ov  the  pump  disappayred,  an'  naythur  the 
docthur,  nor  the  maythrun,  nor  the  nurses,  nor  mesilf, 
yir  rivirince,  has  ivir  seen  hilt  or  hair  ov  it  since! 
Wan  day  I  wuz  lyin'  in  the  bed  in  the  ward,  an'  a 
nurse  comes  over  to  me,  an'  sez  she : 

"  'George.' 

"  'Yis,'  sez  I. 

"  'Ye  wur  bad,'  sez  she. 

"'Wuz  I?'  sez  I. 

"  'Ye  wur,'  sez  she. 

"An' how  bad  wuz  I?'  sez  I. 

'  'Oh,  ye  wur  very  bad,'  sez  she. 

'  'I  wuz  very  bad,  wuz  I  ?'  sez  I. 
f  'Ye  wur  that,'  sez  she. 

"  'An'  if  I  wuz  very  bad/  sez  I,  'how  bad  wuz  I  ?' 
sez  I. 

'Ye  wur  very,  very  bad,'  sez  she. 

"  'But,  how  bad  wuz  I,  if  I  wuz  very,  very  bad  ?' 
sez  I. 

"  'Well,  we  thought  ye  wur  goin'  to  die,'  sez  she. 

"  'Ye  thought  I  wuz  goin'  to  die,  did  ye  ?'  sez  I. 

35 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"  'We  did/  sez  she. 

"  'But  I  diddint  die,  did  I?'  sez  I. 

"  'No,  ye  diddint/  sez  she. 

"  'An'  why  diddint  I  die  ?'  sez  I. 

"  'Because  ye  wur  too  full  ov  spirits/  sez  she. 

"An/  yir  rivirince,  I  am  too  full  ov  spirits  to  go 
back  to  my  ould  way  ov  livin'.  Thank  God,  He  has 
made  a  man  ov  me.  No  more  intoxicatin'  spirits  fur 
me!" 

After  four  years  this  good  man,  George  Young,  is 
still  renewing  his  youth  as  a  staunch  abstainer,  a  mira- 
cle in  the  streets  of  the  city. 


CHAPTER   XI 
"WE  WILL  SEE  THIS  THING  THROUGH" 

ON  the  following  Friday  at  a  quarter-past  eight  o'clock 
one  hundred  and  five  men  walked  into  the  church  hall. 
Sixty-seven  new  men  signed  the  pledge  that  night,  and 
among  these  were  some  of  the  biggest  drinkers  in  the 
city.  The  scene  was  most  hilarious  as  these  men  came 
forward  to  put  down  their  names. 

When  the  signing  was  finished  I  asked  the  whole 
company  to  rise  to  their  feet.  They  all  stood  up,  and  I 
told  them  I  was  going  to  ask  them  to  hold  up  their 
hands  while  they  repeated  the  pledge  in  unison.  I 
explained  to  them  that  the  uplifted  hand  was  the  out- 
ward token  of  the  uplifted,  prayerful  heart.  With 
their  right  hands  uplifted  in  appeal  to  Almighty  God, 
one  hundred  and  five  men  repeated,  phrase  by  phrase 
after  me,  the  following  pledge: 

"For  God  and  Home  and  Native  Land,  I  promise, 
by  God's  help,  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks 
as  beverages,  and  to  do  all  that  in  me  lies  to  promote 
the  cause  of  total  abstinence  by  getting  others  to  join 
the  Union." 

I  did  not  intend  to  ask  the  men  to  do  anything  more 
than  to  repeat  the  pledge,  but  when  I  saw  all  the  hands 
up  I  said :  "Men,  shut  your  fists !"  What  I  was  going 
to  ask  them  to  do  the  next  moment  I  had  no  more  idea 
of  than  I  had  of  what  was  going  to  happen  at  two 
and  a  half  minutes  past  one  o'clock  the  next  afternoon. 
But  suddenly  the  watchword,  "We  will  see  this  thing 
through!''  came  into  my  mind,  and  I  asked  the  men  to 
repeat  it  word  by  word  after  me.  I  told  them  that  the 

37 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

closed  fist  was  the  symbol  of  Irish  Christian  determina- 
tion; and,  with  closed  fists  uplifted,  the  company  said 
word  by  word  after  me,  with  great  deliberation: 

WE— WILL— SEE— THIS— THING— 
THROUGH ! 

Having  called  for  three  cheers  for  total  abstinence 
in  our  city,  which  were  given  with  whole-hearted  Irish 
enthusiasm,  I  asked  the  men  to  bow  their  heads  while 
we  prayed.  I  led  in  a  prayer  in  general  terms,  and 
then  I  asked  them  all  to  repeat  with  me  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  experiences  I  have  ever 
had,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  was  hearing  many 
men  there  that  night  who  hardly  ever  once  entered  a 
church,  and  some  men  who,  judging  by  their  outward 
lives,  probably  never  uttered  a  prayer  at  their  bedsides 
from  their  hearts  to  the  heart  of  the  Eternal  Father, 
saying  after  me,  "Our  Father  Who  art  in  heaven,  hal- 
lowed be  Thy  name,  Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be 
done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 

We  proceeded  to  organise  ourselves.  It  was  pro- 
posed that  we  should  hold  monthly  meetings,  but  I 
objected  to  this  proposal.  Our  enthusiasm  was  intense, 
and  I  thought  it  would  be  fatal  to  wait  a  month  before 
we  had  another  meeting.  I  said  that  our  enthusiasm 
needed  continual  fuelling,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to 
hold  a  weekly  meeting  for  recruiting  purposes.  It  was 
agreed  to  hold  weekly  meetings,  to  have  no  set  temper- 
ance speeches,  but  that  anyone  might  speak  who  so 
desired,  to  devote  most  of  our  time  to  the  enrolment 
of  new  members  and  devising  means  for  gathering  in 
all  who  were  in  any  way  addicted  to  drink. 

I  asked  that  the  pledge  and  watchword  should  be 
repeated  at  the  close  of  every  meeting,  and  it  was  so 
decided.  I  know  that  some  people  think  this  is  a  mis- 
take, as  the  frequent  repetition  is  likely  to  degenerate 

38 


"WE    WILL    SEE    THIS    THROUGH" 

into  a  mere  formality.  But  nothing  succeeds  like  suc- 
cess. Besides,  this  practice  of  taking  a  vow  at  the 
close  of  our  meetings  has  an  ancient  Christian  sanction. 
Pliny  the  Younger,  Governor  of  Bithynia,  laid  certain 
charges  against  the  Christians,  and  he  wrote  to  the 
Emperor,  Trajan,  in  97  A.  D.,  stating  how  he  investi- 
gated these  charges.  He  says,  "They,"  (that  is  the 
Christians)  "declare  that  all  their  guilt  or  error 
amounted  to  was  this;  they  met  on  certain  mornings 
before  daybreak  and  sang  one  after  another  hymn  to 
Christ  as  God,  at  the  same  time  binding  themselves  by 
oath  not  to  commit  any  crime,  but  to  abstain  from 
theft,  robbery,  adultery,  perjury,  or  repudiation  of 
trust;  after  this  was  done  the  meeting  broke  up."  If 
the  early  Church  adopted  such  a  method  of  dealing 
with  the  common  sins  of  the  times,  our  Union  cannot 
be  very  far  astray  in  asking  its  members  to  hold  up 
their  hands,  not  to  take  an  oath,  but  to  appeal  to  God 
for  help  to  keep  their  pledges,  and  to  shut  their  hands 
in  token  of  Christian  determination  while  they  say 
they  will  see  this  thing  through. 

We  appointed  some  office-bearers.  As  President  we 
chose  Dr.  Robert  Gray,  F.R.C.P.I.,  an  enthusiast  in 
total  abstinence  work.  And  in  these  days,  when  the 
medical  profession  is  so  magnificently  identifying  it- 
self with  the  total  abstinence  propaganda,  it  is  signifi- 
cant that  the  first  president  of  the  first  branch  of  the 
newest  Total  Abstinence  Society  in  the  country  is  a 
medical  man.  We  appointed  some  vice-presidents,  and 
a  committee.  Among  our  officers  were  some  of  the 
well-known  drinkers  of  Armagh.  The  public  meeting 
was  held  every  Friday  and  the  committee  meeting 
every  Monday,  and  it  was  quite  delightful  to  find  men 
sitting  on  the  committee  devising  means  of  saving  the 
city  from  the  curse  with  which  they  themselves  had 
formerly  helped  to  curse  the  city. 

The  public  meetings  became  the  talk  of  the  city  and 
neighbourhood,  as,  for  some  months,  great  drinkers 

39 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

were  being  enrolled  at  every  one  of  them.  Several 
"schools"  of  drinkers  that  used  to  meet  in  various 
saloons  began  to  be  broken  up,  their  members  join- 
ing the  Catch-my-Pal  Union.  The  members  of  one 
notorious  "school"  that  met  in  a  certain  saloon  began 
to  "catch"  one  another  for  total  abstinence ;  and  every 
night  when,  at  pledging  time,  one  of  these  men  was 
seen  coming  forward  with  a  pal,  there  was  great  ap- 
plause. It  became  known  that  all  of  this  school  were 
caught  except  one  who  held  back  for  a  long  time.  On 
the  night  he  was  caught  the  meeting  was  almost  frantic 
as  he  walked  up  to  take  the  pledge  before  the  presi- 
dent. The  men  became  surprised  at  their  own  success 
in  "catching  men,"  and  sometimes  during  the  week  the 
word  would  go  round  that  a  notorious  drinker  was 
caught  and  would  appear  at  the  next  meeting,  when  he 
would  get  such  a  reception  as  was  enough  to  make  him 
feel  that,  whatever  fellowship  he  used  to  have  in  the 
saloon,  this  outburst  was  brotherhood  indeed. 


40 


CHAPTER   XII 
"THE  BUTTON  MEN" 

AT  our  second  meeting  in  Gosford  Place  School  we 
decided  to  adopt,  as  our  Badge,  a  button  with  clasped 
hands  across  it,  and  the  words,  "Protestant  Total 
Abstinence  Union"  around  it.  Some  time  afterwards 
we  added  another  button  with  the  words,  "Catch-my- 
Pal  Total  Abstinence  Union." 

The  buttons  became  so  popular  in  the  city  and 
neighbourhood  that  the  phrase  "taking  the  pledge" 
dropped  out  of  use.  Those  who  joined  the  Union 
were  said  to  "take  the  button,"  and  those  who  broke 
the  pledge  were  said  to  "break  the  button."  As  men 
only  had  been  introduced  to  the  Union  up  till  now,  the 
members  were  known  as  "The  Button  Men." 

The  reform  wrought  by  "the  button"  soon  became 
very  apparent.  Several  districts  of  the  city  that  used 
to  be  characterised  by  brawling  on  Saturday  nights 
were  almost  completely  changed.  Saloons  were  almost 
emptied.  Bakers,  drapers,  fruiterers,  and  grocers  be- 
gan to  reap  the  harvest  through  the  diverting  of  money 
from  the  saloons.  It  was  said  there  was  hardly  a  frit- 
ter of  a  beefsteak  left  on  the  benches  of  the  butchers 
on  Saturday  nights.  They  sold  meat  instead  of  bones ! 
There  were  more  children's  boots  sold  in  the  winter, 
1909-1910,  than  in  any  similar  period  within  living 
memory.  Many  merchants  told  me  that  debts  which 
they  looked  on  as  bad  debts,  owed  by  the  men  who 
had  been  drinkers,  were  paid  up  to  the  very  last  farth- 
ing. Men  began  to  go  to  church  who  seldom  or  never 
went  to  church  before.  The  first  Catch-my-Pal 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

Church  Parade  was  held  one  Sunday  afternoon  in  my 
church,  which  has  six  hundred  sittings.  As  many  men 
as  packed  the  church  marched  two  deep  through  the 
streets.  There  was  a  city  sensation !  As  they  entered 
the  church,  they  received  special  hymn  sheets  from 
four  men  who  had  been  among  the  heaviest  drinkers 
in  the  city;  and  something  of  a  church  sensation  was 
caused  when  other  men  who  had  been  drinkers  walked 
into  the  aisles  and  took  up  the  collection!  Would 
God  we  had  more  such  church  sensations! 

I  began  to  realise  how  great  was  the  work  being 
done  when  I  found  that  many  a  woman  whom  I  did 
not  know  met  me  on  the  street,  stopped  me,  shook  my 
hand,  and,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  said :  "Yir  rivirince, 
thank  God  for  the  Catch-my-Pal,  for  I  hardly  ever 
knew  what  it  was  to  be  happy  till  my  husband  signed 
your  pledge."  I  have  seen  more  gratitude  in  women's 
eyes  since  July,  1909,  than  I  saw  during  the  whole  of 
my  ministry  of  seventeen  years  before  that. 

An  Armagh  lady  was  going  to  live  in  Dublin,  and 
had  been  in  the  capital  for  some  time  while  looking  for 
a  house.  When  she  returned  she  engaged  a  furniture 
remover,  who  sent  her  a  man  to  pack  her  glass  and 
china.  When  he  arrived  she  refused  to  let  him  do  her 
packing,  as  he  was  such  a  drinker.  He  told  her  what 
had  been  going  on  in  the  city  during  her  absence,  and 
how  he  and  so  many  other  drinkers  had  become  new 
men,  and  that  no  man  could  pack  her  things  better 
than  himself.  "Why,  ma'am,"  said  he,  "whole  streets 
are  changed.  Many  of  us  never  had  a  bit  of  bacon 
except  on  Christmas  Day;  and  many  a  man  of  us  had 
it  only  on  a  Christmas  now  and  then;  but,  I  declare, 

ma'am,  if  you  walked  down  Street  any  day 

now  at  half -past  one  o'clock,  you'd  hear  the  bacon 
sizzlin'  in  the  pans  in  every  house  in  the  street."  The 
man  was  allowed  to  pack  the  china,  and  the  lady  told 
me  afterwards  that  not  a  piece  of  it  was  broken. 

The  success  of  the  Union  seized  on  the  imagination 


"THE    BUTTON    MEN" 

of  the  community.  A  teacher  in  a  school  about  two 
miles  from  the  city  asked  a  class  of  junior  pupils  to 
write  an  essay  on  "Armagh."  The  essay  of  one  pupil 
was  as  follows :  "Armagh  is  a  very  old  city.  It  is  fam- 
ous for  its  two  cathedrals  and  its  temperance  society." 

A  great  fire  occurred  one  morning  about  three 
o'clock  in  a  motor  garage  near  my  Manse.  I  was  wak- 
ened by  the  crackling  of  glass,  and  I  rushed  to  the 
police  station  and  got  the  constabulary  out.  Later  on 
I  was  standing  beside  a  man  who  was  manipulating  the 
hose.  It  was  found  there  was  little  pressure  of  water. 

"How  is  it,"  I  asked  him,  "that  there  is  not  enough 
supply  to  meet  an  emergency  like  this?" 

"How  could  you  expect  water  to  be  in  the  Armagh 
pipes  now,  yir  rivirince?" 

"And  why  not?" 

"Why,  your  teetotallers  have  drunk  it  all!" 

The  lamp-post  at  which  I  found  the  first  six  men 
became  known  as  "The  Teetotal  Lamp,"  and  it  was 
supposed  by  some  that  there  was  virtue  in  it !  It  was 
reported  that  some  men  who  were  becoming  weak  in 
their  resolutions  leaned  against  it  to  receive  fresh 
courage!  One  day  I  was  talking  to  a  pal  beside  the 
lamp-post.  We  saw  a  man,  a  little  under  the  influence 
of  drink,  leaning  against  a  telephone  pole  about  ten 
yards  away.  My  pal  shouted  to  him:  "What's  the 
use  in  leanin'  aginst  a  thing  like  that?  Shure,  it  will 
do  you  no  good!  If  you  want  to  get  straightened  up, 
come  over  here,  man,  and  lean  agin  the  lamp-post!" 
That  same  pal  met  me  on  another  day  beside  the  lamp- 
post. He  had  a  mighty  record  as  a  drinker  and  a  wit. 
He  stopped  me,  lowered  his  left  eyebrow,  and,  with  a 
merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  said,  as  he  pointed  to  the 
lamp-post:  "D'ye  know,  yir  rivirince,  d'ye  know, 
there's  a  whole  lot  of  fellas  in  Armagh  who  haven't 
taken  the  button  yit,  and  they're  afraid  ov  their  lives 
to  go  near  that  lamp-post,  for  fear  they'd  catch  the 
inf  ecshun !" 

43 


CHAPTER   XIII 
CATCHING  THE  "INFECSHUN" 

THE  "infecshun"  was  soon  caught  by  other  towns. 
Six  men  in  the  village  of  Milford,  a  centre  of  the  linen 
industry  about  two  miles  from  Armagh,  gathered 
around  one  of  the  village  lamp-posts.  They  decided 
to  start  the  movement  among  their  pals,  and  resorted 
to  the  house  of  an  elder  of  my  congregation,  where 
they  signed  the  pledge  in  one  another's  presence. 
They  went  out  to  catch  the  village,  and  it  was  thought 
that,  in  some  respects,  Mil  ford  outstripped  Armagh 
in  its  newly  found  zeal.  Indeed  the  movement  had 
its  greatest  success  all  over  the  country  in  manu- 
facturing centres  where  men  walked  in  crowds  to  and 
from  their  work.  These  times  of  going  to  and  fro 
were  discovered  to  be  splendid  recruiting  seasons. 
When  a  number  of  men  in  any  factory  "took  the  but- 
ton" and  began  to  work,  it  was  not  long  till  it  was  said 
that  the  non-buttoned  man  "hadn't  the  life  of  a  dog  of 
it"  till  he  took  the  button  too.  In  Milford,  as  in 
Armagh,  men  were  enrolled  who  had  never  before 
gone  near  a  temperance  meeting,  and  lives  were 
changed  which  had  been  looked  upon  as  "far  gone" 
indeed. 

When  I  saw  and  heard  of  the  changed  lives  in 
Armagh  and  Milford  I  decided  to  extend  the  move- 
ment over  the  country,  and  I  became  rather  impatient 
in  my  congregational  work.  One  Sunday  after  the 
evening  service  I  said  to  my  wife,  "I  must  go  off  to- 
morrow and  see  if  I  can  get  this  thing  started  in  some 
other  places."  I  had  not  thought  of  any  places  in  par- 

44 


CATCHING    THE    "INFECSHUN" 

ticular,  so,  on  the  following  morning,  I  started  on  my 
motor  bicycle,  with  my  wife  in  a  side-car,  to  find  new 
opportunities  for  Catch-my-Pal.  We  went  to  Rich- 
hill,  Tandragee  and  Portadown.  Each  town  would  re- 
ceive the  new  idea,  and,  as  I  came  home,  I  thought  I 
had  done  a  good  day's  pioneer  work.  The  Milford 
pals  thought  the  same  for  they  made  the  rafters  ring 
with  their  cheers  when  I  addressed  them  that  night 
and  told  them  of  my  mission. 

That  night  I  saw  the  Ulster  heather  take  fire. 

On  the  following  Friday  we  decided  at  our  meeting 
in  Armagh  that  we  would  storm  Portadown  on  Satur- 
day night  with  the  Armagh  Pal  Artillery.  It  was 
agreed  to  send  a  jaunting  car  with  the  storming  party 
and  to  pay  the  hire  out  of  the  funds.  We  asked  for 
six  volunteers  to  "man"  the  car  with  me.  We  ar- 
ranged to  start  from  the  lamp-post,  that  we  might 
bring  the  "infecshun"  from  it  to  Portadown.  The 
news  of  the  storming  party  and  their  plan  of  cam- 
paign went  quickly  round  the  city  and  neighbourhood. 
A  large  crowd  gathered  round  the  lamp-post  on  'Satur- 
day evening  to  see  us  off.  We  began  our  advance  on 
Portadown  amid  the  cheers  of  the  crowd,  and  I  found 
that  a  second  car  with  six  men  was  coming  after  us. 
Where  did  this  car,  with  its  six  men,  come  from  ?  And 
who  were  they?  They  were  six  of  the  men  of  "the 
right  sort,"  who  hired  a  car  at  their  own  expense  to 
come  and  help  us  in  the  Portadown  adventure.  In 
this  campaign  we  are  said  to  capture  men  of  "the 
right  sort"  when  we  bring  in  the  biggest  drinkers. 

On  arrival  at  Portadown  we  went  to  a  hall  and  tried 
an  indoor  meeting  which  proved  a  failure,  though  I 
had  sent  about  two  thousand  circulars  ahead  for  dis- 
tribution among  the  men  coming  out  of  the  factories. 
We  decided  to  go  to  the  street.  Some  deal  boxes 
were  commandeered  from  the  front  of  a  draper's 
shop  and  were  formed  into  a  platform  at  a  lamp-post. 
A  great  crowd  assembled,  and,  when  I  had  told  my 

45 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

story  of  the  work  in  Armagh  and  Milford,  I  asked  the 
twelve  men  of  Armagh  to  come  up  on  the  boxes.  They 
did  not  know  I  was  going  to  ask  them  up,  but  they  all 
responded  to  my  call  and  stood  up  before  the  gaze 
of  that  Portadown  throng  as  living  object  lessons. 
The  splendid  action  of  the  twelve  had  an  instantaneous 
effect  which  drove  home  my  appeal  as  nothing  else 
could  have  done. 

I  asked  all  who  wished  to  do  for  their  town  what  the 
men  of  Armagh  had  done  for  theirs  to  come  with  us 
to  the  hall,  in  which  our  meeting  failed  an  hour  before. 
At  our  second  meeting  there  was  no  failure.  Seventy- 
nine  men  signed  the  pledge,  and  undertook  to  go  and 
catch  their  pals.  This  was  the  first  draught  in  waters 
away  from  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Armagh.  It  was 
inspiring!  It  made  one  feel  that  the  "wonderful 
thing"  was  happening! 

One  of  the  men  who  signed  that  night  pawned  his 
clothes  before  the  meeting  on  the  street.  The  first 
thing  he  did  after  the  meeting  in  the  hall  was  to  re- 
deem his  clothes  and  go  down  the  street,  a  proud  man, 
with  his  bundle  under  his  arm. 

He  had  two  suits.  He  was  not  like  the  man  in  the 
story.  It  was  at  an  auction;  a  trunk  was  put  up  for 
sale.  The  auctioneer  said : 

"Paddy,  why  don't  you  buy  the  trunk?" 

"Arrah,  sur,  an'  what  wud  Oi  do  wid  a  trunk?" 

"Put  your  clothes  in  it,  of  course." 

"Hoogh!  an'  me  go  naked?" 

On  the  following  Saturday  night  I  went  again  to 
Portadown  and  addressed  another  crowd  at  the  lamp, 
which  became  the  "teetotal  lamp"  of  that  town.  An- 
other fine  contingent  joined  our  ranks,  and  the  cam- 
paign was  well  established  on  the  banks  of  the  Bann. 

I  went  to  Lurgan  on  the  next  Saturday  night  and 
addressed  a  crowd  around  a  lamp-post,  now  known  as 
the  "teetotal  lamp"  of  Lurgan.  One  of  the  merchants 
of  that  town  told  me  that  some  of  the  saloon-keepers 


CATCHING    THE    "INFECSHUN" 

were  thinking  of  enlarging  their  premises,  as  their  bars 
were  so  thronged,  especially  on  Saturday  nights.  I 
saw  the  bars  thronged  on  that  night  and  I  was,  per- 
haps, over-zealous  when  I  stood  on  the  box  by  the 
lamp  and  said,  "I  have  come  here  to-night,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  that  a  blow  may 
be  given  to  the  drink  trade  in  your  town  this  very 
night."  But  the  facts  are:  I  knew  what  was  being 
done  in  Armagh ;  and  that  what  was  done  in  one  place 
could  be  done  in  another ;  I  felt  God  Almighty  was  in 
the  movement;  what  was  done  in  Armagh  was  done 
with  even  greater  success  in  Lurgan,  for,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  about  two  thousand  members  joined 
the  Union;  and  no  saloon-keeper  spoke  of  enlarging 
his  premises  after  that  night. 

At  one  of  the  weekly  meetings  a  pal  gave  this  testi- 
mony: "I  was  a  constant  drinker.  One  Saturday 
night  I  went  into  a  pub  to  drink.  I  found  no  one  there 
but  the  bar-man.  I  went  to  another  pub  and  found  no 
one  but  the  bar-man.  I  went  to  a  third  pub  and  found 
no  one  but  the  bar-man.  So,  when  I  saw  how  things 
were  going,  I  said  to  myself,  The  game's  up  with  me 
too,'  and  I  came  that  night  to  the  Pal  meeting  in  the 
town  hall  where  I  saw  the  fellows  I  expected  to  find  in 
the  pubs.  And,  as  the  game  was  up,  I  signed  the 
pledge  and  took  the  button." 

It  is  wonderful  how  God  often  uses  very  mean  in- 
struments in  bringing  salvation  to  men.  "A  face  as 
long  as  a  Lurgan  spade,"  is  one  of  the  proverbs  of 
Ulster.  The  first  night  I  spoke  on  the  Lurgan  street 
I  said,  "I  have  often  heard  of  a  Lurgan  spade.  Did 
any  of  you  ever  hear  of  a  Lurgan  mug?  Is  there  a 
Lurgan  mug  here  to-night — a  man  who  is  going  to 
the  Devil  through  drink,  who  might  be  going  to  God 
if  he  would  only  give  the  drink  up?"  We  must  be- 
come all  things  to  all  men  that  we  may  gain  some. 
I  was  led  that  night  to  venture  on  that  slang  expres- 
sion. But  it  gained  at  least  one  man  who  told  me 

47 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

months  afterwards,  "When  you  said,  Is  there  a  Lur- 
gan  mug  here?'  I  said  to  myself,  'I  am  a  Lurgan 
mug' ;  and  I  went  home  and  went  down  on  my  knees 
and  confessed  my  sin ;  and  I  rose  up,  having  made  up 
my  mind  that,  with  the  help  of  God,  I'd  be  a  Lurgan 
mug  no  more."  And  now,  after  more  than  two  years, 
he  can  stand  four  square  to  all  the  town  as  one  of  the 
most  respected  and  trusted  men  that  walk  its  streets. 
On  the  first  Sunday  of  1910,  I  preached  at  the  first 
church  parade  of  the  Lurgan  Branch.  Eleven  hundred 
men  marched  in  a  solemn  procession  through  the 
streets  to  the  church,  and  it  was  said  that  a  saloon- 
keeper who  usually  "took"  about  $250  a  week  acknowl- 
edged that,  on  the  Friday  after  the  parade,  only  sixty 
cents  were  taken  over  the  counter! 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE  PUBLICANS'  PRAYER  FOR  THE  PRIEST  AND  THE 
PARSON 

FATHER  SHEERIN  was  promoted  from  the  position  of 
curate  in  Armagh  to  that  of  parish  priest  in  Cross- 
maglen.  Some  weeks  after  he  left  Armagh  I  met  a 
Roman  Catholic  saloon-keeper  in  the  street.  He  said : 

"Good  evening,  your  reverence." 

"Good  evening,"  said  I. 

"Trade's  very  slack  just  now,  your  reverence." 

"Is  it?"  said  I. 

"It  is,"  said  he. 

"Do  you  help  your  own  trade?"  said  I. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  said  he. 

"Are  you  a  customer  of  your  own?"  said  I. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  said  he. 

"I  mean,  do  you  take  any  drink  yourself?"  said  I. 

"Oh,  no,"  said  he. 

"Do  you  allow  your  barman  to  take  drink  ?"  said  I. 

"Oh,  no,  not  if  I  know  it,"  said  he. 

"Is  it  not  so  that  you,  men  who  are  in  the  trade, 
exact  a  pledge  of  total  abstinence  from  your  barmen?" 
said  I. 

"Yes,  if  we  can  manage  it,"  said  he. 

"Then  you  want  total  abstinence  on  your  side  of  the 
counter?"  said  I. 

"Certainly,"  said  he. 

"Well,  you  see,"  said  I,  "I  want  total  abstinence  on 
my  side  of  the  counter,  and  that  is  why  I  am  going  on 
with  the  Catch-my-Pal  work." 

"Well,  your  reverence,"   said  he,   "we  all  prayed 

49 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

earnestly  that  Father  Sheerin  might  get  a  parish  of  his 
own  as  far  from  Armagh  as  he  could  go;  and  our 
prayers  were  heard,  and  he's  gone!  And  now,  your 
reverence,  we  are  all  praying  that  you  may  get  a  call 
somewhere  out  of  Armagh,  as  far  as  you  can  go,  and 
we  believe  you'll  go  too!" 

I  cannot  say  that  the  call  came  in  answer  to  the 
publicans'  prayer;  but  it  did  come.  Indeed  it  seemed 
as  if  I  wrote  it  myself  in  a  letter  I  sent  to  various  Irish 
newspapers,  as  I  thought  the  time  had  come  to  let  the 
world  know  what  was  being  done  in  Armagh  and  its 
neighbourhood.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Prenter,  D.D.,  Ex- 
Moderator  of  the  Irish  General  Assembly,  wrote  an 
article  on  my  letter.  He  spoke  of  "The  New  Refor- 
mation" which  had  begun  to  dawn  in  Armagh.  Judg- 
ing by  the  subsequent  history  of  the  movement,  he 
showed  really  remarkable  foresight  as  to  its  possibili- 
ties. He  said  the  letter  was  being  talked  about  every- 
where; and  I  soon  discovered  how  true  this  was,  for, 
within  a  week,  I  was  deluged  with  letters  from  all 
over  the  United  Kingdom.  I  required  a  postman 
nearly  all  for  myself  every  morning.  Requests  for 
information  came  from  every  country  in  Europe  ex- 
cept Turkey  and  Portugal.  Afterwards  I  had  requests 
for  information  from  all  over  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  and  almost  every  British  Dominion  beyond 
the  seas.  Similar  requests  came  from  China  and 
Japan.  I  felt  it  was  quite  impossible  for  me  to  settle 
down  to  my  work  as  a  parish  minister.  The  "call"  to 
leave  Armagh  had  surely  come!  And  I  thought  of 
the  publican's  prayer ! 

I  venture  to  affirm  that  no  church  in  the  United 
Kingdom  has  taken  a  more  definite  stand  on  the  drink 
question  than  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  and  no 
man  has  helped  more  to  that  end  than  the  Rev.  John 
Macmillan,  D.D.,  the  convener  of  the  Temperance 
Committee,  who,  in  the  following  year,  in  recognition 
pi  his  service  to  the  cause  of  Temperance,  was  ap- 

50 


THE    PUBLICANS'    PRAYER 

pointed  Moderator  of  the  Church.  He  consulted  his 
committee  about  the  Catch-my-Pal  crusade,  and  wrote 
to  tell  me  that  the  Committee  desired  me  to  conduct 
a  three  months'  campaign  over  the  country,  while 
they  would  supply  my  church  in  Armagh.  I  agreed 
to  do  as  desired,  and  my  congregation  nobly  consented. 
When  the  three  months  were  ended  Dr.  Macmillan 
made  a  similar  arrangement  for  another  three.  When 
the  second  period  ended,  another  arrangement  was 
made  for  a  third,  and  I  was  in  a  fix.  I  was  being 
weaned  away  from  my  congregation,  and  my  congre- 
gation was  being  weaned  away  from  me.  I  saw  that 
I  must  either  give  up  this  work  or  my  congregation. 
I  have  no  private  means  and  I  did  not  marry  for 
money.  A  committee  was  formed  to  look  after  the 
interests  of  the  movement  throughout  the  country,  but 
they  were  in  no  position  to  offer  me  a  salary.  One  day 
I  said  to  my  wife,  "What  shall  I  do?  I  have  no  way 
of  supporting  you  and  the  boys,  and  I  have  no  guar- 
antee that  things  will  work  out  right  if  I  resign  my 
congregation  and  my  salary  and  Manse."  She  had 
more  faith  than  I  had;  and  it  is  only  fair  to  her  to 
say  that  I  made  a  venture,  more  on  my  wife's  faith 
than  on  my  own.  For  she  said,  "There  is  only  one 
thing  for  you  to  do.  Give  up  your  congregation.  God 
has  made  so  many  other  firesides  happy  through  this 
movement,  we  may  be  sure  He  will  not  forsake  our 
fireside.  Certainly  give  up  your  church."  I  said,  "All 
right,  then,  that  settles  it.  I'll  resign  at  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Presbytery."  So,  at  the  next  meeting,  I  re- 
signed. Many  said  to  me  that  I  was  "a  born  fool"  to 
do  anything  of  the  kind.  But  after  four  years  I  have 
yet  to  find  wherein  my  folly  lay.  I  question  if  there  is 
any  minister  in  the  world  who  has  seen  more  immedi- 
ate fruit  of  his  ministry  than  I  have  been  privileged 
to  see  in  the  hundreds  of  homes  that  have  been  made 
happy  and  men  and  women  and  children  who  have 
been  lifted  up  out  of  the  gutters  of  drunken  debauch- 
Si 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ery.  I  shall  ever  keep  in  grateful  memory  the  kind  in- 
dulgence given  to  me  by  my  congregation  during  the 
year  I  was  being  weaned  from  them  before  my  actual 
resignation. 

I  was  supported  by  the  General  Assembly's  Com- 
mittee for  nine  months  after  my  resignation  of  my 
ministry  in  Armagh,  and  I  can  never  forget  how  the 
church  of  my  fathers  stood  by  me  and  mothered  me 
in  the  infancy  of  my  larger  ministry.  Since  April, 
1911,  I  have  had  a  salary  from  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement. 


CHAPTER   XV 
How  THE  CAUSE  SPED  ON  ITS  WAY 

AT  a  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Irish 
Presbyterian  Church,  held  in  Belfast  in  October,  1909, 
I  was  permitted  to  make  a  statement  about  the  work 
in  Armagh  and  neighbouring  towns.  All  day  I  was 
wondering  what  I  should  say  at  the  evening  meeting. 
I  had  told  the  story  in  the  public  Press  in  the  letter 
already  referred  to,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  repeat  it.  I 
asked  a  minister  what  I  ought  to  do,  and  he  said,  "Tell 
your  story."  "But,"  I  said,  "you  have  all  re£d  it  in 
the  Press,  and  you  know  all  I  have  to  say.  I  cannot 
concoct  facts."  "Oh,  yes,  you  can,"  he  answered!  I 
tried  to  prepare  a  speech,  and  I  worried  over  it  all  day, 
but  I  could  put  down  nothing  that  satisfied  me,  and  I 
found,  notwithstanding  what  the  brother  said,  that  I 
could  not  concoct  facts.  I  was  booked  for  a  speech, 
and  I  was  beginning  to  wish  I  had  not  asked  per- 
mission to  speak.  I  was  a  bundle  of  nerves  when  the 
Moderator  called  on  me  to  address  the  house.  My  ad- 
dress seemed  to  make  a  profound  impression.  I  can 
say  this  without  any  egotism,  as  I  felt,  when  I  had 
finished,  that  I  hardly  knew  what  I  had  been  saying. 
So  deep  was  the  impression  that  the  Moderator  asked 
the  Assembly  to  unite  in  singing,  as  an  expression  of 
thanksgiving,  part  of  the  sixty-eighth  Psalm: 

"O  God,  Thou  to  Thine  heritage 
Didst  send  a  plenteous  rain, 
Whereby   Thou,   when   it   weary   was, 
Didst  it  refresh  again. 

53 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"The  Lord  Himself  did  give  the  word, 

The  word  abroad  did  spread; 
Great  was  the  company  of  them 
The  same  who  published. 

"Kings  of  great  armies  foiled  were, 

And  forced  to  flee  away; 
And  women,  who  remained  at  home, 
Distributed  the  prey. 

"Though  ye  have  lain  among  the  pots, 

Like  doves  ye  shall  appear, 
Whose  wings  with  silver,  and  with  gold 
Whose  feathers  covered  are." 

The  Assembly  then  engaged  in  solemn  prayer  for  a 
blessing  on  the  work  begun  in  the  old  ecclesiastical 
capital  of  our  native  land. 

After  that  address  I  was  surprised  at  the  way  my 
brethren  in  the  Irish  ministry  took  up  the  work  and 
upheld  my  hands  wherever  I  went  on  my  mission. 

A  horse  was  being  driven  in  a  dray  along  a  street  in 
New  York.  He  was  a  jibber.  As  they  say  in  Scot- 
land— he  took  the  sturdies ;  or,  as  we  say  in  Ireland — 
he  rusted.  Many  attempts  were  made  by  his  driver 
and  by  passers-by  to  make  him  move,  but  he  stolidly 
stood  his  ground.  When  he  was  about  to  be  despaired 
of  a  gentleman  came  along  the  street.  He  took  in  the 
situation.  It  was  in  the  time  of  the  snow.  The  gentle- 
man lifted  a  handful  of  snow  and  rubbed  it  over  the 
horse's  nose.  Immediately  the  horse  went  on.  The 
driver  asked  the  gentleman: 

"What  did  you  do  to  that  horse?  We  have  been 
trying  for  some  time  to  get  him  to  move  but  he  would 
not  budge.  What  did  you  do  to  that  horse?" 

The  gentleman  answered: 

"Oh,  I  guess  it  was  very  simple.  The  horse  was  run 
down  in  his  ideas.  He  simply  needed  a  new  idea. 
That  was  all." 

It  seemed  as  if  some  of  the  temperance  work  of  the 

54 


HOW  THE   CAUSE   SPED  ON   ITS  WAY 

country  had  come  to  a  standstill.  It  simply  needed  a 
new  idea. 

I  was  going  to  Derry  one  day  in  a  train  with  several 
other  ministers.  One  of  them  said  to  me:  "This 
Catch-my-Pal  is  such  a  simple  thing,  it's  a  wonder 
none  of  us  ever  thought  of  it  before."  I  said :  "The 
time  was  when  mothers  all  over  the  country  were 
greatly  bothered  by  the  pins  that  stuck  into  the  sides 
of  their  infant  children.  The  whole  peace  of  families 
was  upset  by  stray  pins.  The  safety  pin  was  invented. 
One  day  a  mother  showed  a  safety  pin  to  the  assem- 
bled family.  They  all  examined  it  and  handed  it  back 
to  the  mother.  She  held  it  in  her  hand  and  expressed 
the  family's  opinion  when  she  said :  "Dear  me,  that  is 
such  a  simple  thing,  isn't  it  a  wonder  none  of  us  ever 
thought  of  it  before?" 

If  the  people  had  not  been  taught  on  the  temperance 
question  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  could  not  have 
been.  If  the  movement  did  not  bring  any  new  ma- 
terial to  the  temperance  pile  perhaps  it  touched  that 
pile  with  a  new  fire.  When  I  went  out  on  my  mission 
people  found  I  had  nothing  new  to  say  on  the  question. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  they  had  heard  nearly  every- 
thing that  could  be  said  on  it,  but  that  it  needed  to 
be  presented  in  a  new  light.  All  I  did  was  to  tell  my 
story  and  lay  stress  on  Good  Samaritanship.  The  en- 
gine of  temperance  reform  was  filled  with  material  for 
fire.  The  fire  was  somewhat  dull.  A  live  coal  from 
off  the  altar  of  the  Lord  was  put  into  the  pile  on  July 
1 3th,  1909,  and  the  engine  sped  on  its  way. 

I  addressed  a  meeting,  and  oftentimes  two  meetings, 
every  night  in  the  week,  and  usually  two  every  Sun- 
day. I  slept  in  a  different  bed  every  night,  but  I  did 
not  sleep  long.  I  had  no  secretary;  I  was  amongst 
strangers  all  the  day  except  when  I  was  in  trains,  when 
I  tried  to  be  alone;  and,  when  my  kind  hosts  thought 
I  was  in  my  bed,  I  was  sitting  in  my  bedroom  till 

55 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

three  or  four  o'clock  every  morning  writing  letters  to 
all  parts  of  the  world. 

And  here  I  desire  to  record  my  profound  gratitude 
to  God  for  all  His  goodness  to  me  in  giving  me  such 
health  and  resolution  as  enabled  me  to  get  through  an 
amount  of  work  which  I  never  could  have  imagined 
myself  capable  of  accomplishing. 

Everywhere  I  went  my  story  created  the  greatest 
interest  and  enthusiasm.  In  places  where  temperance 
sentiment  was  weak  I  found  my  story  made  it  strong. 
Men  and  women  thronged  around  the  Catch-my-Pal 
standard,  eager  to  be  found  in  the  van  of  a  crusade 
fighting  for  the  formation  of  a  better  public  opinion. 
Sometimes  whole  audiences  would  sign  the  pledge  and 
repeat  the  watchword.  Men  and  women  came  to  the 
meetings  with  no  intention  of  signing,  and  before  they 
went  away  they  found,  to  their  own  surprise,  that  they 
had  "taken  the  button." 

When  I  held  an  inaugural  meeting  I  usually  did  not 
leave  the  platform  till  it  was  arranged  when  and 
where  the  next  meeting  would  be  held,  for  I  did  not 
consider  there  was  much  use  in  getting  a  number  of 
people  to  come  and  sign,  if  they  were  to  go  off  again 
at  the  close  of  the  meeting  as  so  many  unrelated  atoms, 
never  to  meet  again.  My  endeavour  was  to  leave  an 
organisation  behind  me  in  every  place  I  visited — an 
organisation  for  recruiting  purposes,  an  organisation 
of  workers. 

A  card  was  given  to  each  person  entering  a  meet- 
ing, and  when  I  had  made  my  appeal  I  asked  all  who 
wished  to  sign  the  cards  to  put  their  names  down. 
When  the  cards  were  signed  I  asked  all  who  had 
signed  them  to  come  up  to  the  front  and  hand  their 
cards  to  me.  When  I  had  them  at  the  front  I  kept 
them  there  till  they  had  repeated  the  pledge  with  up- 
lifted hands  and  shut  their  fists  and  said,  "We  will  see 
this  thing  through." 

56 


HOW  THE   CAUSE   SPED   ON   ITS  WAY 

CATCH-MY-PAL  CRUSADE 

WORKER'S  PLEDGE 

Let  every  man  and  every  woman  willing  to 

DO 

something  to  save  our  land  from  drink,  sign  the  pledge  on  this  card. 

"For  God  and  Home  and  Native  Land,  I  promise,  by  God's 
help,  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  beverages, 
and  to  do  all  that  in  me  lies  to  promote  the  Cause  of  Total 
Abstinence  by  getting  at  least  one  drinker  to  sign  the  pledge 
and  join  the  Anti-Drink  Crusade." 

BEFORE  YOU  SIGN,  ASK  YOURSELF  THREE  QUESTIONS: 

1.— Did  I  LIFT  UP  a  fallen  one  during  the  past  year  ? 

2.— Did  I  TRY  to  lift  up  a  fallen  one  during  the  past  year  ? 

3.— Did  I  PRAY  that  I  might  be  able  to  lift  up  a  fallen  one  during  the  past  year? 

Even  though  you  are  already  a  Total  Abstainer,  sign  this  pledge 
and  become  a 

WORKER 

Name 

Address 

Congregation 

WE-WILL-SEE-THIS-THING-THROUGH ! 

In  one  town  eighty-four  men  were  at  the  meeting. 
Every  man  took  the  pledge  that  night.  But  these 
eighty-four  were  nearly  all  total  abstainers,  and,  on 
the  following  day,  the  publicans  were  amused  to  hear 
that  so  many  total  abstainers  had  taken  the  pledge. 
They  laughed  at  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement,  and 
thought  that  not  much  evil  would  come  to  their  trade. 
But  they  laughed  too  soon. 

It  was  arranged  when  and  where  the  eighty-four 
were  to  meet  the  next  week.  At  the  second  meeting 
these  eighty- four  brought  in  eighty-seven,  many  of 
whom  were  drinkers;  and  before  the  next  weekly 
meeting,  when  one  hundred  and  twenty  more  were 

37 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

brought  in,  some  saloon  men  of  the  meaner  sort  in  that 
town  were  offering  free  drinks  and  free  suppers  to 
any  men  who  would  come  into  their  bars  with  the 
Catch-my-Pal  buttons  in  their  coats.  Seven  hundred 
and  two  men  were  enrolled  in  that  small  town  in  seven 
weeks. 

In  another  town  I  was  told  by  a  minister,  when 
going  to  the  meeting,  that  Catch-my-Pal  "would  not 
take"  there.  On  entering  the  hall  I  saw  it  packed 
with  about  five  hundred  people.  I  told  them  I  had 
heard  the  movement  would  not  "take"  with  them,  as 
they  were  "a  peculiar  people,"  but  that  I  would  not 
leave  the  platform  till  three- fourths  of  them  had  signed 
the  pledge !  Three  hundred  and  sixty  of  them  signed. 
The  movement  did  "take"  and,  on  the  testimony  of 
many  witnesses,  it  revolutionised  the  district  in  its 
relation  to  the  drinking  habit. 

Five  weeks  before  one  of  my  meetings  in  a  town  in 
County  Down,  a  merchant  met  me  at  a  railway  junc- 
tion and  told  me  the  saloon-keepers  of  the  town  were 
in  dread  of  the  coming  meeting.  I  laughed  at  my 
friend,  but  he  said  it  was  really  so.  And,  indeed,  it 
was  so.  On  the  night  of  the  meeting  I  addressed  not 
one  but  two  assemblies,  attended  by  men  who  came  in 
their  working  clothes.  Five  hundred  of  them  "took 
the  button."  The  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed.  Five 
hundred  apostles  of  total  abstinence  were  at  work  in 
the  town  and  neighbourhood  the  following  day,  and 
the  publicans'  dread  was  more  than  justified. 

Shortly  before  Christmas,  1909,  I  went  through  a 
severe  snow-storm  to  a  little  town  which  had  the  worst 
reputation  for  drink  in  its  county.  The  local  school- 
master told  me  at  the  meeting  that  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  men  in  the  town  were  drinkers.  I  asked  the  meet- 
ing if  this  was  so,  and  the  meeting  agreed  with  the 
master.  There  were  one  hundred  and  seven  persons 
present.  I  did  not  think  there  would  be  any  response 
to  my  appeal  so  soon  before  Christmas,  as  I  supposed 

58 


HOW  THE  CAUSE  SPED  ON  ITS  WAY 

that  in  such  a  place  the  men  would  not  so  bind  them- 
selves as  to  forego  their  usual  Christmas  bout.  To  my 
surprise,  over  eighty  "took  the  button."  I  congratu- 
lated the  men  on  their  action,  and  said  that  as  their 
town  was  in  a  hollow  and  was  then  covered  with  snow, 
I  might,  if  they  would  keep  their  pledge,  congratulate 
myself  on  being  like  Benaiah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada,  who 
went  into  a  pit  in  the  time  of  the  snow  and  slew  a  lion. 
It  is  now  acknowledged  that  from  that  night  a  new 
chapter  in  the  life  of  the  town  began  to  be  written. 
The  majority  of  those  who  signed  kept  their  pledges. 
Several  of  the  most  abandoned  drinkers  are  on  their 
feet  again,  and  men  who  were  on  the  verge  of  bank- 
ruptcy are  now  prospering  in  business. 

In  the  heat  of  the  General  Election  on  January, 
1910,  I  went  to  a  small  town  in  another  county.  When 
on  my  way  past  the  corner  of  the  town  square  to  the 
place  of  meeting  I  walked  into  a  crowd  of  about  twen- 
ty men,  many  of  whom  were  under  the  influence  of 
drink.  I  asked  them  to  come  to  the  meeting,-  but  they 
refused.  I  told  them  I  would  tell  them  some  good 
stories,  but  they  were  not  to  be  caught.  When  I  was 
introduced  to  the  meeting  in  the  hall  I  said  I  thought 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  we  all  went  out  and  tried 
to  get  the  fellows  in  from  the  corner  of  the  square. 
I  asked  all  who  would  like  to  help  me  to  come  out  with 
me.  Every  man  in  the  hall  came  out  into  the  square. 
I  asked  them  to  form  four  deep,  and  as  they  did  not 
seem  to  heed  me  I  said  to  the  rector,  who  had  been  in 
the  chair: 

"Rector,  will  you  get  them  to  form  four  deep?" 

And  the  rector,  a  true  son  of  Connaught,  shouted: 

"Form  four  deep  every  one  of  you!" 

Every  one  of  us  formed  four  deep,  and  we  marched 
towards  the  men  at  the  corner.  As  we  approached  the 
corner  I  turned  and  said  to  the  men  in  the  procession : 
"Get  into  open  order.  Spread  yourselves  out  and 
march  right  into  these  fellows  and  mix  yourselves  up 

59 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

with  them.  When  we  are  all  well  mixed  up  with  them 
we'll  form  again  and  march  for  the  hall!"  We  walked 
into  them,  and  when  we  were  well  mixed  up  with  them 
I  shouted :  "Now,  boys,  for  the  hall !"  We  marched 
back  to  the  hall  and  swept  in  the  boys  from  the  corner. 
I  was  told  that  nearly  every  one  of  them  signed  the 
pledge  that  night.  One  of  them  was  so  drunk  he  did 
not  know  he  had  signed.  The  next  morning  a  pal 
called  to  see  him,  and  reminded  him  of  the  meeting  of 
the  previous  night. 

"But  I  was  at  no  meetin'  last  night." 
"Oh,  yes,  you  were  at  the  Catch-my-Pal  meetin1." 
"Me  at  the  Catch-my-Pal  meetin'  last  night!" 
"Yes,  an'  you  signed  the  pledge  too." 
"What!    Me  signed  the  pledge?" 
"Yes,  you  signed  the  pledge  last  night." 
"Well,  if  I  signed  the  pledge,  I'll  keep  it." 
And  he  did  keep  it.     I  addressed  a  meeting  in  that 
town  fifteen  months  after  that  night.    A  local  magis- 
trate presented  a  silver  medal  to  the  pal  who  proved 
himself  the  best  worker  in  the  branch,  and  I  was  asked 
to  hand  the  medal  to  the  man  who  came  up  for  it. 
The  man  who  came  up  was  the  man  who  had  been  so 
far  down  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  doing 
when  he  signed  the  pledge!     And  now,  after  four 
years,  he  is  one  of  the  most  successful  and  happy  and 
respected  men  in  the  town. 

At  the  close  of  a  meeting  I  addressed  in  a  town  in 
County  Antrim,  the  chairman,  a  magistrate  and  one  of 
the  most  active  workers  in  every  good  cause,  said  to 
me :  "I  have  been  working  for  temperance  for  over 
thirty  years,  and  that  is  the  best  temperance  meeting 
I  have  ever  been  at.  The  men  we  want  to  get  to 
temperance  meetings  were  here  to-night.  I  never  saw 
them  at  a  temperance  meeting  before."  Nearly  all  the 
drinkers  in  the  town  were  present. 

Reports  of  these  meetings  were  published  all  over 
the  country.  I  was  quite  unable  to  respond  to  all  the 

6q 


HOW  THE  CAUSE  SPED  ON  ITS  WAY 

calls  that  came  to  me  for  meetings.  I  arranged  to  hold 
nearly  all  my  first  meetings  in  towns  of  strategic  im- 
portance, and  asked  all  branches  started  in  them  to  do 
their  utmost  for  their  own  towns  and  then  to  go  out 
along  the  lines  of  missionary  effort  to  the  neighbour- 
ing villages.  Many  men  and  women  started  the  work 
among  themselves  in  many  centres.  One  branch, 
which  I  did  not  visit  till  six  months  after  it  was  started, 
had  over  a  thousand  members  on  the  roll,  though  there 
were  only  nine  hundred  persons  in  the  town ! 

There  was,  perhaps,  no  place  where  more  enthusiasm 
was  shown  than  in  the  City  of  Derry.  If  her  walls 
would  not  surrender  to  King  James  she  opened  wide 
her  gates  to  the  Catch-my-Pal  army.  Two  battalions 
of  the  army  entrenched  themselves  at  Ebrington  and 
at  Clooney  on  "The  Waterside."  The  men  of  the  city 
proper  said,  "God  is  come  into  the  camp  at  Waterside/' 
for  they  heard  how  women's  hearts  were  being  healed 
and  children's  lives  gladdened  through  the  fight  the 
Catch-my-Pal  men  were  making  with  the  drink.  So 
signal  was  the  success  of  the  Waterside  men,  they 
determined  to  storm  the  city  itself.  They  marched 
out  in  battle  array  in  two  brigades.  They  crossed  the 
bridge  unopposed.  The  city  opened  her  gates,  while 
the  citizens,  with  the  bishop  at  their  head,  turned  out 
to  meet  them.  A  great  meeting  of  welcome  was  held 
in  one  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches,  and,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  siege,  an  Episcopal  bishop  went 
into  a  Presbyterian  pulpit,  and  met  such  a  volley  of 
Catch-my-Pal  enthusiasm  as  must  have  pierced  his 
heart  through  with  the  desire  to  occupy  many  a  Pres- 
byterian pulpit  again ! 

After  that  meeting  all  the  Derry  churches,  including 
the  Cathedral,  opened  their  doors  to  the  movement, 
and  a  branch  was  started  in  connection  with  every 
congregation.  At  an  open-air  demonstration  held  in 
Derry  in  1911,  the  local  secretary  of  the  National 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children 

61 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

stated  on  the  platform  that,  since  the  starting  of  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement  in  that  district  in  1909,  the 
cases  of  cruelty  to  children  had  been  reduced  by  fifty 
per  cent. 

I  was  asked  to  address  the  Annual  Meeting  of  The 
Society  of  Friends  in  Dublin.  I  never  had  a  more 
interesting  experience  than  at  that  meeting.  There 
was  a  charm  about  it  I  found  nowhere  else.  I  was 
allowed  twenty-five  minutes,  and  when  I  had  spoken 
about  ten  minutes  there  were  some  expressions  of 
appreciation.  After  five  minutes  more  there  was  faint 
applause.  A  little  later  the  applause, was  more  pro- 
nounced, and,  as  I  closed,  the  applause  was  almost 
unrestrained.  It  was  proposed,  seconded,  and  decided, 
to  form  a  Friends'  Branch  of  the  Union.  I  then  ad- 
ministered the  pledge.  Most  of  the  Friends  stood  up, 
held  up  their  hands,  repeated  the  pledge,  shut  their 
fists,  and  said,  "We  will  see  this  thing  through."  A 
gentleman  afterwards  said  to  me:  "I  have  been  at 
Friends'  meetings  all  my  life,  and  I  never  heard  ap- 
plause at  one  of  them  before,  and,  of  course,  I  never 
saw  us  rise  and  shut  our  fists  as  we  did  to-day !" 

The  movement  spread  over  Ireland  from  Culdaff  to 
Cork,  and  from  Donaghadee  to  Dromore  West.  There 
are  about  three  thousand  Protestants  in  Limerick  city. 
Almost  one  third  of  them  were  at  the  meeting  I  ad- 
dressed there.  The  minister  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  a  town  in  the  South  told  me  that  every  Protestant 
in  the  district  "took  the  button." 

Many  Roman  Catholics  came  to  my  meetings  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  There  were  four  of  them  at  one 
meeting.  They  went  and  caught  their  pals  and  brought 
them  to  the  next  meeting.  They  multiplied  till  there 
were  sixty-four  coming  to  the  Protestant  Total  Absti- 
nence Union.  The  local  secretary  wrote  to  ask  me  what 
they  should  do  with  the  Roman  Catholic  members.  I 
replied  that  it  would  be  best  to  give  them  over  to  their 
priest.  This  was  done,  and  the  result  was  a  race  be- 

62 


HOW  THE  CAUSE  SPED  ON  ITS  WAY 

tween  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  such  as  was 
seen  in  Armagh.  They  vied  with  one  another  in  sav- 
ing their  town  from  their  common  curse. 

About  140,000  men  and  women  j6ined  the  Union 
during  the  first  year  in  Ireland;  and  almost  500 
branches  were  formed  in  less  than  two  years. 


CHAPTER   XVI 
THE  SOUND  OF  THE  TREAD  OF  MARCHING  FEET 

As  the  chief  end  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  is 
to  form  a  well  defined  public  opinion  against  the  drink- 
ing customs  of  our  time  and  in  favour  of  legislation 
that  will  abolish  the  facilities  for  drinking,  we  have, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  crusade,  held  great  Church 
Parades  and  open-air  Demonstrations. 

Men  and  women  of  all  classes  of  society  have  been 
willing  to  come  out  in  procession  along  our  streets  and 
to  march  to  church.  The  services  are  usually  con- 
ducted by  the  several  ministers  of  the  various  Protes- 
tant churches  taking  part  together.  It  seemed  as  if  a 
veritable  ecclesiastical  miracle  was  wrought  by  the 
movement,  as  it  became  quite  customary  to  see  Epis- 
copalian, Presbyterian,  Methodist,  and  Congregational 
ministers  taking  part  in  the  one  service.  I  preached  in 
an  Episcopal  church  one  evening.  The  rector  read  the 
prayers.  One  Presbyterian  minister  read  the  first  les- 
son, and  another  read  the  second.  A  Presbyterian 
minister  gave  out  the  hymns,  and  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister sang  a  solo  to  the  organ  accompaniment. 

These  parades  have  been  the  means  of  bringing  to 
church  men  and  women  who  had  almost  forgotten  the 
way  to  the  House  of  God.  Some  people  who  have 
absented  themselves  for  a  long  time  from  church  do 
not  care  to  be  seen  coming  to  it  again.  They  fear  the 
criticism  of  their  neighbours.  But  they  will  come  if 
there  is  a  crowd  in  which  they  can  hide  themselves; 
and  after  they  have  come  in  the  crowd  they  make  bold 
to  come  alone.  Almost  one  of  the  first  signs  of  the 


THE    SOUND    OF    MARCHING    FEET 

changed  life  of  those  who  have  given  up  the  drink  in 
the  course  of  this  crusade  has  been  the  purchase  of 
new  clothes  and  attendance  at  public  worship. 

The  Protestant  Churches  of  Ireland  have  been 
brought  nearer  to  one  another  by  the  Catch-my-Pal 
movement  than  by  any  other  movement  of  our  times. 
And  the  church  parades  have  manifested  the  spirit  of 
unity  in  a  way  that  nothing  else  could  do. 

In  1910  I  had  the  honour  of  being  asked  to  address 
the  Synod  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Ireland  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  Dublin.  As  far  as  I  know  this  was 
the  first  time  for  a  Presbyterian  minister  to  receive 
such  an  invitation.  The  reception  given  to  me  proved 
that  there  were  no  ecclesiastical  swathes  and  bandages 
round  the  hearts  of  my  Episcopal  brethren  preventing 
them  from  giving  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  a  min- 
ister belonging  to  another  communion  than  their  own. 

The  present  Primate  of  that  Church,  when  Bishop 
of  Down,  presided  at  a  great  Catch-my-Pal  demon- 
stration in  the  Presbyterian  Assembly  Hall,  Belfast. 
He  said  he  was  a  teetotaller  before  I  was  born.  At  the 
beginning  of  my  speech  I  told  him  that  we  welcomed 
him  as  a  pal,  but  that  I  noticed  he  was  an  unadorned 
one,  as  he  had  not  donned  the  button.  I  asked  him 
if  he  would  let  me  put  the  button  in  his  coat,  and  he 
rose  and  received  the  button  amid  thundering  applause 
from  nearly  three  thousand  pals.  I  said,  "My  Lord, 
it  is  said  that  I  catch  pals.  I  have  caught  a  bishop 
to-night,  and  you  will  be  as  good  a  pal  as  any  of  us. 
And  now  I  lay  upon  your  lordship's  shoulders  the 
responsibility  of  going  and  catching  every  bishop  on 
the  bench."  This  statement  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm,  and  the  bishop  promised  to  do  what  he 
could,  and  that  one  of  the  first  things  would  be  to  go 
to  the  meeting  of  English  bishops  at  Lambeth  and  to 
tell  them  all  about  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement.  This 
he  did,  and  with  much  effect,  as  I  found  when  I  went 
to  London. 

65 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

Great  open-air  demonstrations  have  been  held  all 
over  the  country.  The  first  of  these  was  at  Banbridge 
on  Easter  Monday,  1910,  attended  by  about  7,000 
members.  On  that  day  the  saloon-keepers  organised 
steeplechases  at  the  other  side  of  the  town,  but  the 
temperance  demonstration  was  the  more  attractive 
meeting  of  the  two,  though  one  of  the  horses  that  won 
a  race  at  the  'chases  was  called  Catch-my-Pal. 

The  first  Anniversary  Demonstration  was  held  at 
Armagh  on  i6th  July,  1910,  attended  by  about  5,000 
members.  On  that  day  the  Lord  Primate,  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, aged  82,  sent  the  following  message:  "My 
dear  Friends,  on  a  day  so  dear  to  you  I  send  you  an  old 

man's  message  and  benediction Unfortunately, 

for  centuries,  abstainers,  total  or  even  partial,  were  as 
uncommon  as  blackbirds  among  birds.  But  such  a 
splendid  exception  do  we  find  in  the  great  Dr.  Johnson. 
He  calls  himself  'a  hardened  and  shameless  tea- 
drinker/  He  speaks  of  tea  as  'this  fascinating 
plant';  with  tea  he  amuses  the  evening,  with  tea  he 
solaces  the  midnight,  and  with  tea  he  welcomes  the 
morning.  We  are  not  able  or  required  to  do  all  this, 
but  it  marks  out  the  greatest  total  abstainer  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

"I  dwell  for  a  few  moments  on  the  consecrated  un- 
selfishness of  the  Catch-my-Pal  which  makes  the  con- 
vinced total  abstainer  first  seek  his  brother  or 
sister 

"I  would  pray  for  a  blessing  on  the  object  of  this 
gathering,  and  upon  the  originator  of  this  movement 
whose  success  has  been  so  widely  recognised,  and  not 
without  its  effect  in  London,  upon  his  helpers  and  upon 
all  who  are  associated  in  this  work.  The  Lord  bless 
you  all.  .  .  ." 

On  that  anniversary  day  it  was  considered  a  pious 
duty  on  the  part  of  all  good  pals  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Manse,  outside  which  was  a  placard  in  blue  with  the 
inscription : 

66 


THE    SOUND    OF    MARCHING    FEET 

HERE   CATCH-MY-PAL   WAS    BORN, 
i6TH  JULY,  1909, 

and  all  day  long  crowds  hung  around  the  now  famous 
lamp-post.  Although  the  movement  was  just  coming 
out  of  its  swaddling  clothes  it  had  already  got  its  relics 
and  shrines,  things  that  count  immensely  in  any  new 
faith. 

About  10,000  marched  through  the  streets  of  Bel- 
fast, a  few  days  before  the  i6th,  to  a  meeting  in  Or- 
meau  Park,  presided  over  by  Alderman  Mercier,  J.  P., 
first  President  of  the  Union,  and  a  few  days  after  it 
about  5,000  gathered  at  Baronscourt,  where  they  were 
graciously  welcomed  by  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Abercorn.  On  that  day  the  Duke's  steward  made 
cloakroom  arrangements  for  500  bicycles.  The  500 
tickets  were  used  and  500  additional  bicycles  were 
stored  without  tickets!  It  was  believed  that  this  was 
the  biggest  display  of  bicycles  ever  seen  in  Ireland. 

I  have  addressed  many  thousands  of  pals  at  excur- 
sions to  our  sea-side  resorts,  such  as  Portrush,  Bun- 
doran,  Donaghadee,  Newcastle,  and  Warrenpoint. 
My  whole  time  during  the  Summers  since  the  start  of 
the  Crusade  has  been  occupied  in  addressing  demon- 
strations of  local  or  district  dimensions.  Nothing  so 
helps  to  form  public  opinion  as  "the  sound  of  the  tread 
of  marching  feet,"  and,  in  these  open-air  demonstra- 
tions, many  men  and  women  are  glad  of  the  opportur 
nity  of  showing  what  side  they  are  on,  in  company 
with  great  numbers  gathered  together  in  a  good  cause. 

Our  second  anniversary  demonstration  was  held  in 
Belfast  on  loth  June,  1911.  It  was  difficult  to  calculate 
how  many  were  present,  but  The  Northern  Whig 
stated  in  an  editorial  that  it  was  probably  the  largest 
temperance  procession  seen  in  Ireland  since  the  days 
of  Father  Mathew. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  SCOTLAND 

THE  Crusade  could  not  be  confined  to  Ireland.  It  is 
not  like  a  Scotch  road  along  which  an  Irish  Presby- 
terian minister  was  motoring.  He  was  not  sure  of  his 
way,  so  he  slowed  down  his  motor  and  asked  a  little 
Scotch  boy :  "Where  does  this  road  go  to?"  And  the 
laddie  replied :  "This  road  does  na  gae  onywhaur ;  it 
just  stays  whaur  it  is." 

For  some  weeks  before  Christmas,  1909,  I  had  been 
receiving  invitations  to  visit  various  places  in  Great 
Britain ;  and  in  the  last  week  in  December  I  addressed 
two  meetings  in  Scotland,  the  first  in  Bellshill,  and 
the  second  in  Carrubbers'  Close,  Edinburgh.  The 
good  folk  in  Edinburgh  were  much  astonished  at  the 
story  I  told  them,  and  some  seemed  to  "hae  their 
doots  about  it."  When  I  sat  down,  a  gentleman 
rushed  up  from  the  body  of  the  hall  to  the  platform 
and  began  to  speak.  The  chairman  tried  to  stop  him 
as  the  hour  was  late  and  he  was  not  on  the  programme. 
But  he  would  not  be  put  down.  He  said:  "I  want 
to  give  my  testimony.  I  have  been  travelling  all  over 
the  North  of  Ireland  and  have  seen  how  this  move- 
ment is  working;  and  I  just  want  to  say  that  Mr.  Pat- 
terson might  have  said  much  more  than  he  has  said 
and  still  have  been  well  within  the  bounds  of  truth." 
This  quite  unexpected  and  unsolicited  testimony  much 
gratified  me.  I  have  had  an  almost  continual  tempta- 
tion to  exaggerate  when  addressing  public  meetings, 
but  I  have  ever  tried  to  keep  myself  so  "well  within 

68 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    SCOTLAND 

the  bounds  of  truth"  that  no  one  could  accuse  me  of 
over-stating  my  case. 

On  the  first  Sunday  of  1910  I  had  a  rousing  experi- 
ence in  Glasgow,  when  I  addressed  a  meeting  in  the 
Palace  Theatre,  there  being  about  1,500  men  present. 
At  the  close  of  my  address  the  whole  audience  seemed, 
in  response  to  my  appeal,  to  rise,  to  hold  up  their 
hands,  to  repeat  the  pledge,  to  clench  their  hands,  and 
to  say  in  crescendo  style,  "WE— WILL— SEE— 
THIS— THING— THROUGH."  A  gentleman  said 
to  me  as  we  were  coming  out,  "I  never  saw  a  Scotch 
audience  rise  like  that  before." 

The  next  time  I  was  in  Scotland  I  addressed  the 
Annual  meeting  of  the  British  Women's  Temperance 
Association  in  the  Music  Hall  in  Aberdeen.  It  was  a 
wonderful  sight.  It  was  said  there  were  about  2,000 
persons  present.  I  told  my  story,  and  practically 
every  person  present  rose  and  repeated  a  total  absti- 
nence pledge  and  the  Catch-my-Pal  watchword.  The 
following  morning  one  of  the  leading  temperance 
workers  in  Aberdeen  told  me  that  the  age  of  mira- 
cles was  not  past  yet.  I  asked  him  why  he  said  so, 
and  he  said  he  never  saw  an  Aberdeen  audience  get 
to  their  feet  in  such  a  mannar  before,  and  that  if  that 
could  be  done  in  Aberdeen  it  could  be  done  anywhere ! 
This  was  delightful  encouragement  to  me,  for  I  had 
been  told  many  a  time  that  Scotland  would  not  be 
caught  as  Ireland  was.  But,  "if  that  could  be  done  in 
Aberdeen!"  then  s«urely  there  was  hope. 

I  have  paid  many  visits  to  Scotland.  Perhaps  my 
greatest  success  was  in  Paisley,  where  I  started  a 
branch  on  a  Sunday  night  in  April,  1910,  at  a  meeting 
in  the  Town  Hall.  Four  hundred  persons  took  the 
pledge,  and  since  then  about  five  thousand  members 
have  been  enrolled.  I  do  not  know  any  town  where 
the  ministers  threw  themselves  more  heartily  into  this 
movement  than  in  Paisley;  and  I  believe  it  was  their 
united  and  wholehearted  action  that  contributed  more 

69 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

than  anything  else  to  the  splendid  result  achieved  by 
the  movement  there.  I  started  a  branch  in  Inverness 
at  the  end  of  November,  1911.  Before  Christmas  the 
Catch-my-Pal  members  united  with  the  British 
Women's  Total  Abstinence  branch  in  taking  over  a 
public-house  and  converting  it  into  a  Catch-my-Pal 
Cafe.  Three  hundred  pledges  were  taken  in  that  cafe 
in  January,  1912,  and  the  crusade  began  operations  in 
two  other  districts  in  the  town  with  such  effect  that 
The  Highland  Times  said  "Judging  by  the  scarcity 
of  drunks  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  is  doing  really 
effective  work.  It  has,  in  fact,  worked  a  miracle 
which  the  most  effective  police  court  in  the  country 
has  tried  to  perform  and  tried  in  vain." 

One  of  my  most  interesting  and  pleasant  Scotch 
experiences  was  my  being  invited  to  address  a  meeting 
of  the  Diocesan  Temperance  Society  of  Edinburgh, 
presided  over  by  the  bishop  and  attended  by  nearly  all 
the  Episcopal  clergy  of  the  city.  They  were  much 
interested  in  my  story,  and  seemed  surprised  at  what 
I  had  to  say  about  the  approaches  the  Protestant 
churches  of  Ireland  were  making  to  one  another.  I 
said :  "Well,  you  are  Episcopalians  and  I  am  a  Pres- 
byterian and  I  am  here  among  you  to-night  at  any 
rate." 

One  Saturday  I  was  advertised  in  the  Edinburgh 
papers  to  give  an  address  on  the  following  afternoon 
in  the  Central  Hall,  Tollcross,  on  "Catch-my-Pal;  or 
How  to  be  Happy  though  Sober."  The  Evening  Dis- 
patch remarked:  "We  notice  in  our  advertising 
columns  that  a  certain  gentleman  is  going  to  lecture  in 
Edinburgh  to-morrow  on  'How  to  be  Happy  though 
Sober.'  This  will  make  us  pause  and  consider  what 
an  admirable  lecture  some  of  us  could  give  on  'How 
to  be  Miserable  though  Drunk' ' 

Eleven  hundred  men  attended  my  meeting  at  Toll- 
cross.  I  told  them  my  story.  They  were  much  in- 
terested. The  response  to  my  appeal,  however,  was 

70 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    SCOTLAND 

not  as  hearty  as  I  expected,  so  I  made  another  one, 
saying :  "I  was  travelling  recently  in  an  Irish  railway 
carriage  and  saw  this  conundrum  written  on  the  paint 
above  the  cushions :  'Why  are  the  cushions  in  this  car- 
riage like  Scotchmen?'  I  wonder  if  any  of  you  can 
tell  me  the  answer?"  (I  waited  for  a  moment  and 
no  one  replied.)  "Well,  it  was  evidently  a  Scotch- 
man travelling  in  Ireland  who  wrote  that  conundrum 
there.  Look  at  it  again.  Every  word  of  it  is  impor- 
tant. 'Why — are — the — cushions — in — this — carriage 
— like — Scotchmen?'  'Because  they  never  are 
beaten!'*  The  eleven  hundred  men  cheered,  rolled 
the  answer  as  a  sweet  morsel  under  their  tongues, 
cheered  again  and  settled  down  into  a  great  calm  of 
satisfaction.  "But,"  I  said,  "the  pity  is  that  the 
answer  is  not  true!"  (Consternation!)  "And,  why 
do  I  say  it  is  not  true?  Because  of  what  I  saw  last 
New  Year's  Eve  around  the  Tron  Kirk.  I  had  always 
thought  of  Scotland,  the  land  of  my  forefathers,  as 
the  most  Christian  country  in  the  world.  Edinburgh 
is,  I  suppose,  the  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world. 
There  is  not  a  better  churched  city  in  the  world.  For 
its  size  I  believe  nd  city  in  the  world  has  better  preach- 
ers. And  yet,  what  did  I  see  at  the  Tron  Kirk  on  New 
Year's  Eve  ?  A  veritable  hell !  On  that  night,  above 
all  others,  when  the  heart  of  Scotland  should  have  been 
looking  up  for  guidance  to  live  better  in  the  coming 
year  than  it  did  in  the  one  that  was  passing,  it  seemed 
as  if,  in  a  scene  of  drunken  debauchery,  Edinburgh  was 
glorying  in  her  shame.  If  a  New  Guinea  savage  could 
have  viewed  from  an  aeroplane  the  sight  I  saw  he 
would  likely  have  flown  back  to  his  savagery,  saying  : 
'If  Christianity  can  tolerate  that  in  Edinburgh,  then 
none  of  it  for  me.  I  prefer  to  be  as  I  am.'  Did  it  not 
seem  as  if  the  drink  demon  had  Scotland  by  the  very 
throat  that  night?  Your  Lord  Rosebery  says  that  if 
the  State  does  not  throttle  the  drink-traffic  the  drink- 
traffic  will  throttle  the  State.  May  I  not  shelter  myself 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

behind  Lord  Rosebery  when  I  say  that,  judging  by  the 
Tron  Kirk  scene,  the  drink  was  throttling  Scotland? 
At  any  rate,  as  long  as  such  a  scene  is  tolerated  by 
Scotch  public  opinion,  it  cannot  be  said  that  'Scotch- 
men never  are  beaten.'  They  are  beaten,  beaten  by  the 
drink!  And  I  ask  all  here  who  wish  to  help  in  form- 
ing such  a  public  opinion  in  Scotland  as  to  make  these 
Hogmanay  debaucheries  an  impossibility  in  your  land, 
I  ask  all  of  you,  sons  of  'Scots  wha  hae  wi'  Wallace 
bled,'  who  would  like  to  see  the  drink  curse  driven 
from  your  country,  to  rise  to  your  feet  and  shut  your 
fists  and  say :  'We  will  see  this  thing  through !' '  I 
think  every  man  in  the  hall  rose  to  his  feet.  And  when 
eleven  hundred  voices  said  word  by  word,  "We  will  see 
this  thing  through,"  one  felt  as  if  Hogmanay  as  now 
witnessed  would  soon  be  as  only  an  unpleasant  mem- 
ory in  the  land. 

I  know  that  Scotland  appears  at  her  worst  at  New 
Year's  time.  But  that  is  the  time  she  should  appear  at 
her  best.  I  suppose  there  are  no  better  Christian  or 
temperance  workers  anywhere  in  the  world  than  in 
Scotland,  and  all  readers  of  this  book  will  unite  with 
me  in  hoping  that  Scotland,  when  she  puts  her  Local 
Option  Act  into  operation  in  1920,  will  do  such  ex- 
ploits under  it  as  to  set  the  pace  for  the  rest  of  the 
United  Kingdom  in  the  race  for  sobriety  and  purity  of 
life. 

In  some  places  in  Scotland  friends  did  not  care  to 
venture  on  the  formation  of  a  new  temperance  society 
where  so  many  societies  already  existed.  They  said : 
"We'll  hear  what  you  have  got  to  say  and  we'll  hold 
a  committee."  In  not  a  few  instances  the  committee 
sat,  and  so  sat  on  Catch-my-Pal  that  Catch-my-Pal 
never  rose  again!  But  I  am  grateful  to  be  able  to 
say  that  wherever  the  movement  got  a  chance  in  Scot- 
land it  did  as  good  work  as  it  did  in  Ireland. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 
CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  ENGLAND 

IN  April,  1910,  I  went  to  address  my  first  meeting  in 
England.  It  was  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Women's 
Total  Abstinence  Union,  held  in  Caxton  Hall,  West- 
minster. Delegates  from  all  parts  of  England  were 
present  and  honoured  me  with  a  most  sympathetic 
hearing.  One  of  the  results  of  my  address  was  that 
Catch-my-Pal  enthusiasm  fired  to  finer  service  many 
of  the  best  workers  among  the  women  of  England. 
The  Catch-my-Pal  aggressive  method  was  introduced 
into  many  branches  of  the  Women's  Total  Abstinence 
Union  throughout  the  country,  and  from  that  Union 
and  from  the  British  Women's  Temperance  Associa- 
tion I  have  received,  and  am  still  receiving,  invitations 
to  conduct  meetings  from  Southampton  to  Northum- 
berland. 

While  in  London  I  addressed  other  meetings  at 
Putney,  where  I  started  the  first  Catch-my-Pal  branch 
in  England,  and  at  Norwood,  where  I  had  a  singular 
experience.  The  meeting  was  in  St.  Andrew's  Church. 
When  the  chairman  and  I  came  out  of  the  vestry  to 
the  pulpit  the  great  audience  rose  to  their  feet.  I  won- 
dered what  this  meant.  The  organist  began  to  play 
the  Dead  March  in  Saul!  King  Edward  VII.  had 
died  two  days  before.  At  the  close  of  the  March  I 
had  to  rise  to  try  to  enthuse  for  total  abstinence  an 
audience  clad  in  mourning  for  our  King! 

I  am  always  nervous  when  about  to  address  an 
audience,  but  never  did  I  feel  so  much  inclined  to  go 
and  hide  myself  as  I  did  before  I  got  up  to  speak  in  the 

73 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

City  Temple  pulpit  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Con- 
gregational Union  of  England  and  Wales.  I  remem- 
bered that  at  a  great  united  meeting  in  London  a 
Presbyterian  minister  rose  to  speak  immediately  before 
Dr.  Parker.  He  was  duly  impressed  by  his  position, 
and  said :  "I'll  be  brief  and  make  way  for  Dr.  Parker, 
as  I  am  but  a  humble  Presbyterian  minister."  When 
Dr.  Parker  got  to  his  feet  he  said,  in  his  great  rotund 
style:  "When  I  heard  the  previous  speaker  say,  'I 
am  but  a  humble  Presbyterian  minister/  I  said  to 
myself,  'I  will  now  turn  aside  and  see  this  GREAT 
SIGHT!' '  If  I  never  felt  it  before,  I  felt  on  that 
night  that  I  was  "but  a  humble  Presbyterian  minister." 
I  saw  the  shade  of  Parker  turning  aside  to  see  me  in 
his  pulpit.  I  felt  as  if  I  must  shrivel  up  into  nothing- 
ness under  his  gaze  and,  for  the  first  few  moments 
on  my  feet,  I  thought  the  audience  saw  my  hair  all 
standing  on  end. 

There  were  other  reasons  besides  for  my  nervous- 
ness that  night.  I  had  one  of  the  greatest  surprises 
of  my  life,  when,  one  morning  in  Armagh,  early  in 
1910,  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  J.  Turner  Rae,  Sec- 
retary of  the  National  Temperance  League,  asking 
me,  in  the  name  of  his  committee,  to  conduct  a  cam- 
paign in  London  in  the  October  of  that  year.  For 
some  time  I  could  not  entertain  the  idea,  and  was  on 
the  point  of  declining  the  invitation  had  not  my  wife 
said  to  me :  "Of  course  you'll  go  to  London.  No 
other  man  has  a  story  like  yours,  and  if  it  has  done 
so  much  good  here,  why  should  you  not  go  and  tell  it 
in  London?"  So  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Rae,  accepting  the 
invitation.  I  knew  he  was  in  the  City  Temple  audi- 
ence, and  I  felt  that  my  address  in  the  Temple  was  my 
testimonial  for  the  London  campaign.  It  was  not 
till  the  following  morning,  when  I  received  a  card 
from  Mr.  Rae,  that  I  was  at  ease  and  began  to  look 
forward  to  October  in  hope. 

As  I  consider  my  London  campaign  the  most  im- 

74 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    ENGLAND 

portant  one  I  have  yet  attempted,  I  shall  be  forgiven 
if  I  give  here  an  extract  from  Mr.  Rae's  report  of 
it  in  The  National  Temperance  Quarterly,  December, 
1910. 

"A   LONDON   AWAKENING." 

"One  of  the  most  remarkable  temperance  efforts  of 
modern  times  was  carried  out  in  the  Metropolis  during 
the  month  of  October,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Na- 
tional Temperance  League.  The  London  papers  had 
for  some  time  been  giving  most  interesting  accounts 
of  the  marvellous  success  attending  the  efforts  of  the 
Rev.  Robert  J.  Patterson,  LL.B.,  of  Armagh,  in  re- 
deeming the  North  of  Ireland  from  the  social  condi- 
tions set  up  by  the  drinking  habits  of  the  people.  Com- 
mencing in  an  exceedingly  small  way  'round  a  lamp- 
post' in  the  city  of  Armagh,  in  July,  1909,  the  Catch- 
my-Pal  movement  had  resulted  in  little  more  than 
fifteen  months  in  the  accession  of  some  140,000  per- 
sons to  the  total  abstinence  pledge. 

"For  some  considerable  time  the  committee  of  the 
League  had  been  anxious  to  discover  a  means  by  which 
the  practice  of  abstinence  from  alcohol  could  be  made 
to  appeal  more  convincingly  to  the  numerous  social 
agencies  for  men  which  have  sprung  up  within  recent 
years.  The  committee  realise  that  this  is  absolutely 
essential  to  the  success  of  other  movements  kindred  to 
their  own,  and  are  convinced  that  until  this  is  appre- 
ciated by  leaders  and  members  their  ultimate  aims 
cannot  be  reached. 

"Accordingly,  the  Committee  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  afforded  by  Mr.  Patterson's  New  Crusade 
to  endeavour  to  awaken  the  interest  of  London  social 
reformers,  and  incidentally  to  arouse  inactive  abstain- 
ers and  members  of  temperance  societies  to  renewed 
effort  in  the  enrolment  of  individuals  as  workers  in 
the  Total  Abstinence  Cause.  This  aim  has  been  fully 

75 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

fulfilled,  as  some  six  thousand  three  hundred  pledges 
have  already  been  secured. 

"The  possibilities  of  the  continued  work  of  such  an 
army  as  this  are  so  great  as  to  be  impossible  of  con- 
ception, and  it  only  requires  a  corresponding  financial 
cooperation  to  that  of  the  personal  work  to  create  such 
a  change  in  the  Metropolis  as  will  produce  similar  re- 
sults in  relation  to  industry  and  commerce  as  have  been 
produced  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  where,  according  to 
a  Daily  Telegraph  correspondent,  'men  are  now  paying 
their  debts,  children  are  being  better  fed  and  clothed, 
and  a  higher  standard  of  living  prevails  among  the 
people.  The  butcher,  baker,  grocer,  shoemaker  and 
draper  are  all  benefitting  by  the  spending  with  them  of 
the  large  sums  of  money  formerly  wasted  in  drink.  In 
the  City  of  Londonderry  last  winter  more  children's 
boots  were  sold  than  ever  before  in  the  same  period. 
The  life  of  the  policeman  has  become,  in  reality,  a 
happy  one,  and  cases  are  few  and  far  between  in 
towns  where  they  were  formerly  numerous.' 

"The  question  has  been  asked  whether  the  pledges 
are  wholly  'new,'  and  the  estimate  shows  that  about 
one-third  (two-sixths)  are^old  abstainers  who  have 
been  inspired  to  work ;  about  one-sixth  are  active  work- 
ers who  feel  that  the  Catch-my-Pal  method  is  a  valu- 
able adjunct  to  their  methods;  and  about  one-half 
(three-sixths)  are  those  of  new  recruits  to  abstinence. 
The  spiritual,  moral,  and  material  effects  of  such  a 
body  of  workers  cannot  fail  to  be  seen  in  the  ameliora- 
tion of  the  poverty,  crime,  and  disease  which  are  the 
direct  result  of  the  drinking  customs.  The  Committee 
of  the  League  rejoice  at  the  undoubted  stimulus  which 
the  visit  of  the  Rev.  Robert  J.  Patterson  has  given 
to  the  temperance  work  in  the  Metropolis,  as  evidenced 
by  the  further  operations  in  every  branch  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  among  the  Men's  Societies  of  various 
kinds  and  all  temperance  organisations. 

"With   an  aggregate   attendance   of   some  24,000 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    ENGLAND 

persons,  the  thirty  meetings  which  comprised  the  cal- 
endar of  London  engagements  were  supported  by  the 
leaders  of  every  branch  of  religious,  social,  and  tem- 
perance work  in  the  different  localities  in  which  the 
gatherings  took  place,  and,  moreover,  were  character- 
ised by  the  display  of  such  a  note  of  enthusiasm  as 
must  have  called  to  mind  the  scenes  of  'those  earlier 
times'  to  many  a  veteran  who  happened  to  be  present. 

"The  seven  special  afternoon  gatherings,  appealing 
more  particularly  to  women,  were  of  a  most  encourag- 
ing nature.  The  evening  demonstrations  took  place  in 
nineteen  of  the  more  important  town  and  public  halls, 
and  these,  with  few  exceptions,  were  crowded  to  their 
utmost  capacity,  over  3,000  people  occupying  the 
Peckham  Hippodrome,  and  2,500  the  Conference  Hall 
at  Stratford.  Two  other  particularly  noteworthy  gath- 
erings were  those  which  took  place  in  the  Wandsworth 
Town  Hall,  at  which,  notwithstanding  the  facilities  for 
an  overflow  meeting,  many  had  to  be  turned  away 
from  the  doors;  and  at  Greenwich  Royal  Hospital 
Schools,  where  Mr.  Patterson  had  the  opportunity  of 
addressing  the  1,000  sailor  boys  forming  the  League's 
Naval  Band  of  Hope.  Here  many  remarkable  scenes 
have  taken  place,  but,  in  the  words  of  an  eye-witness, 
'never  could  there  have  been  a  more  inspiring  occa- 
sion/ Firmly  gripping  the  attention  of  the  boys,  Mr. 
Patterson  pressed  home  his  most  telling  appeal  on 
behalf  of  total  abstinence,  until  with  their  enthusiasm 
at  white  heat  the  boys  rose  in  one  great  body  and 
voiced,  in  such  a  way  as  only  young  British  tars  know 
how  to  vociferate,  their  intention  to  'see  this  thing 
through,'  cheer  upon  cheer  following  their  adoption  of 
the  following  pledge :  Tor  God  and  Home  and  Native 
Land,  I  hereby  promise,  with  God's  help,  to  abstain 
from  all  alcoholic  beverages,  and  to  get  as  many  others 
as  I  can  to  do  the  same.' 

"A  farewell  public  rally  took  place  in  the  Holborn 
Hall,  when,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  League's 

77 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

venerable  President,  a  large  and  enthusiastic  gathering 
of  workers  demonstrated  their  appreciation  of  Mr. 
Patterson's  coming  into  their  midst.  A  most  interest- 
ing reception  preceded  the  'Farewell'  public  meeting. 
This  was  attended  by  a  large  number  of  the  clergy  and 
ministers  of  all  denominations,  as  well  as  by  a  most 
representative  company  of  temperance  friends  who, 
though  they  sympathised  with  Mr.  Patterson  when  he 
confessed  that,  notwithstanding  the  results  of  the  cru- 
sade, he  found  more  encouragement  among  hard 
headed  Aberdonians  than  in  London,  yet  heartily 
agreed  that  a  truly  marvellous  work  had  been  done. 
In  their  fitting  testimonies,  however,  as  President  and 
Chairman,  respectively,  of  the  League,  the  Dean  of 
Hereford  and  Mr.  Robert  Whyte,  jun.,  warmly  con- 
curred with  the  view  expressed  by  Mr.  Rae,  that  their 
having  taken  some  six  thousand  pledges  was  exceed- 
ingly encouraging,  in  that  it  must  undoubtedly  result 
in  the  permeation  of  the  temperance  factor  amongst 
all  the  other  great  social  movements  which  the  League 
has  endeavoured  to  reach,  and  finally,  in  such  an 
awakening  throughout  the  country  as  will  bring  nearer 
and  nearer  the  true  realisation  of  the  fact  finely  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  Whyte  in  the  words: 

"It's  not  by  Eastern  windows  only, 

When   daylight   comes,   comes   in   the   light; 
In  front  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly, 
But  Westward  look,  the  land  is  bright." 

"We  cannot  do  better  than  conclude  with  the  follow- 
ing fine  impression  of  one  of  the  Crusade  meetings, 
contributed  by  the  Rev.  Gerald  Thomson,  M.A.,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Church  of  England  Temperance  Society, 
to  the  Temperance  Chronicle,  which  gives  an  excellent 
idea  of  the  character  and  method  of  Mr.  Patterson's 
appeal:  Tt  is  not  everyone,  perhaps,  who  is  familiar 
with  the  Lambeth  Baths.  Personally  I  know  them 

78 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    ENGLAND 

well — in  their  winter  guise  and  employment  of  an  As- 
sembly Hall.  It  was,  therefore,  no  very  new  experi- 
ence for  me  to  find  myself  one  of  the  crowd  of  Pals, 
and  would-be  Pals,  who  came  on  Wednesday  of  last 
week  to  hear  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Patterson,  Catch-my-Pal 
leader — the  originator  (humanly  speaking)  of  the 
movement.  I  say  'humanly  speaking/  for  it  is  quite 
clear  that  this  is  a  God-sent  wave,  and  that  the  eloquent 
Irishman,  whose  name  is  known  wherever  the  English 
language  and  Temperance  are  associated,  is  the  instru- 
ment— neither  more  nor  less.  And  no  man  would  be 
so  ready  to  acknowledge  this  as  R.  J.  Patterson  him- 
self. This  brings  me  to  the  man  himself.  We  in  Eng- 
land do  not  know  the  Presbyterian  Minister  intimately, 
and  I  confess  that  I  looked  upon  the  first  and  best  Pal 
of  the  Society — now  numbering  140,000 — with  much 
interest.  There  is  nothing  of  the  impossible  comic 
paper  'Pastor'  about  Patterson.  Neatly  dressed  in  cor- 
rect clerical  attire,  clean  shaven,  and  with  a  slight 
natural  'tonsure/  he  would  pass  for  a  priest  of  our  own 
Church  or,  in  view  of  the  thin  patch  at  the  back  of  his 
head,  of  the  Italian  Mission  in  this  country.  I  had  not 
been  two  minutes  in  the  presence  of  the  man  before  I 
knew  why  he  had  been  chosen  for  the  great  work. 
Then  there  is  the  charm  of  manner  and  utter  absence 
of  affectation  that  would,  and  do,  commend  him  to 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  with  whom  he  comes 
into  contact — the  personal  magnetism  that  is  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  equipment  of  an  Apostle.  Lastly, 
there  is  the  extraordinary  eloquence  of  the  man.  Oh, 
that  torrential  eloquence!  Never  have  I  listened  to 
anything  like  it.  In  a  ringing  voice,  with  never  a 
falter,  we  at  Lambeth  were  swept  along  for  an  hour 
and  a  half.  At  one  moment  we  were  in  fits  of  laughter 
as  the  Irishman  told  with  all  his  native  drollery  of 
some  decisive  victory  over  the  'Dhrink.'  The  next 
minute  we  caught  our  breaths  and  leaned  forward  as 
the  minister  warned  us  in  solemn  tones  of  our  own 

79 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

terrible  responsibility.  We  were  distressed  spectators 
of  the  miserable,  drink-sodden  home;  we  cowered  with 
the  starving  children  as  the  drunken  father  cursed  them 
and  their  mother  in  the  filthy  hovel  occupied  by  the 
drunkard's  family.  We  cheered  with  the  second  batch 
of  thirty-one  newly  enrolled  pals,  who  crowded  'his 
rivrenceY  dining-room  in  Armagh  a  fortnight  after 
the  game  of  catching  pals  had  started.  We  bowed 
our  heads  with  the  newly  enrolled  brotherhood  as  the 
minister  thanked  Almighty  God  for  His  mercies.  We 
rode  on  a  jaunting  car  to  Portadown  with  his  'riv- 
rence,'  and  there  we  met  another  car  manned  by  six 
men  who  had  been  'the  biggest  dhrunkards  in  the 
city,'  and  who  now  are  its  most  fanatical  abstainers. 
We  said  that  we  would  'see  this  thing  through.'  Sud- 
denly we  were  at  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar,  sent  there 
by  a  thousand  twentieth  century  Greenwich  boys  to 
find  out  whether  the  rank  and  file  did  really  win  that 
great  fight.  And  then,  as  we  of  the  95th  Regiment 
grasped  our  long  muskets  at  Waterloo,  and  wondered 
whether  we  could  hold  out,  Wellington  came  and 
cheered  us  on  by  telling  us  that  we  had  got  to  win,  and 
from  then  each  man  fought  his  own  musket  all  he 
knew  till  the  day  was  ours.  And  suddenly  we  were  back 
in  Armagh  standing  in  a  small  circle  of  light  cast  by  a 
street  lamp,  and  hearing  a  typical  Irishman  telling  'his 
rivrence'  that  the  very  few  drinkers  left  in  the  pri- 
matial  city  were  afraid  to  come  near  that  lamp-post 
—by  which  the  first  six  pals  were  caught — lest  they 
'should  take  the  infecshion.'  And — I  write  it  with  all 
reverence — in  spite  of  the  humour  and  the  laughter,  in 
spite  of  the  occasional  gentle  digs,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, we  felt  all  through  that  we  were  not  far  from 
the  Great  Founder  of  our  Faith,  that  it  is  His  work, 
and  that  its  marvellous  success — second  only  to  that 
of  Father  Mathew's  incredible  campaign — is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  carried  on  in  His  name.  No 
politics  is  the  rule — and,  better  still,  is  a  rule  that  is 

80 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    ENGLAND 

kept.  No  denominationalism  is  another  rule — the 
whole  thing  was  grand  and  inspiring,  and,  above  all, 
spiritual.  That  is  the  secret  of  Robert  J,  Patterson's 
success — he  is  in  deadly  earnest,  and  he  is  truly  spir- 
itual. God  bless  and  prosper  him !" 

I  have  addressed  meetings  in  about  fifty  English 
towns  from  Plymouth  to  York,  and  from  Weston- 
super-Mare  to  Dover.  The  enthusiasm  at  these  meet- 
ings has  been  as  great  as  at  any  meetings  in  Ireland. 
In  many  places  the  temperance  friends  did  not  see  their 
way  to  start  a  new  society,  but  adopted  the  Catch-my- 
Pal  idea  in  connection  with  existing  societies.  In  other 
places  branches  of  Catch-my-Pal  have  been  started 
with  splendid  results.  In  one  town  many  great  drink- 
ers were  enrolled  in  a  very  short  time.  The  enthusias- 
tic secretary,  who  is  an  Irishman,  had  his  men  formed 
into  companies,  with  a  captain  over  each  company. 
These  companies  are  sent  out  weekly  for  recruiting 
purposes,  and  much  friendly  competition  is  fostered 
among  them  in  catching  pals.  The  names  of  the  com- 
panies are  "The  Stick-at-ems,"  "The  Pick-em-ups," 
"The  Pal-catchers,"  "The  Scouts.''-  The  secretary 
writes  to  say  that  all  these  companies  work  hand  in 
hand  for  the  reclaiming  of  the  drunkard. 

A  good  Irish  doctor  started  a  branch  in  his  town  in 
Cheshire.  He  brought  me  to  see  an  artisan's  wife 
whom  he  called  a  "wonderful  woman."  When  I  en- 
tered her  little  kitchen  I  saw  a  really  wonderful  face, 
a  face  beaming  with  goodness  and  happiness.  The 
doctor  asked  her  to  show  me  her  book.  She  handed 
me  a  small  note-book.  I  turned  over  page  after  page 
and  saw  nothing  but  names.  I  asked  what  all  these 
names  meant,  and  my  friend  said :  "These  are  names 
of  persons  this  good  woman  has  brought  into  our 
Catch-my-Pal  Society." 

How  many  had  she  brought  in?  Five?  Yes. 
Twelve?  Yes.  Twenty-seven?  Yes.  Forty-three? 
Yes.  Seventy-six?  Yes.  Eighty-nine?  Yes.  Ninety- 
Si 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

eight?  Yes.  One  hundred  and  five?  Yes.  She 
brought  in  one  hundred  and  five!  Perhaps  some  good 
English,  Scotch  or  Irish  woman  who  reads  this  will 
say:  "Well,  if  she  had  paid  proper  attention  to  her 
house  perhaps  she  would  not  have  had  so  much  time 
to  pay  attention  to  other  people."  But  I  never  saw  a 
sweeter  little  kitchen.  It  was  twinkling  and  winking  at 
me  from  the  knob  on  the  door  to  the  knob  on  the  range. 
Everything  was  in  its  place.  There  was  every  indica- 
tion that  the  good  woman  did  pay  attention  to  her  own 
home  and  was  doing  all  that  in  her  lay  to  promote 
the  cause  of  total  abstinence  by  getting  others  to  join 
the  Union  and  learn  to  make  their  homes  happy  too. 

At  one  of  my  meetings  in  England  a  lady  came  to 
the  front  and  asked  me  did  I  want  her  to  sign  the 
pledge.  I  said  I  did.  She  pointed  to  a  little  white  bow 
on  her  bosom  and  said :  "But  I  am  a  member  of  The 
British  Women's  Temperance  Association/'  When 
she  was  asked  how  many  persons  she  had  been  the 
means  of  bringing  into  the  membership  of  her  branch 
of  that  Society  during  the  year  she  had  to  confess 
with  some  hesitancy  that  she  had  not  brought  in  a 
single  member.  She  was  then  asked  to  sign  the  pledge 
and  become  a  worker. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  meeting  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  addressing  in  England  was  one  in  Ply- 
mouth workhouse.  I  was  attending  the  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  Western  Temperance  League,  and  was 
asked  to  go  to  speak  to  the  people  in  the  workhouse. 
The  next  day  the  following  report  was  in  a  local  paper : 
"There  was  a  remarkable  Scene  in  the  dining  hall  in 
Plymouth  workhouse  last  evening  .  .  .  Mr.  Patter- 
son alternately  gently  chided  the  women  and  soundly 
castigated  those  of  the  men  who  owed  their  position 
to  drink,  and  finally  got  his  entire  audience  to  stand, 
as  expressing  their  desire  to  see  their  land  freed  from 
drink.  Then,  with  very  few  exceptions,  men  and 
women  alike,  young  and  old,  feeble  and  strong,  raised 

82 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    ENGLAND 

their  right  hands  and  took  the  Catch-my-Pal  pledge, 
vowing  earnestly  that  they  would  'see  this  thing 
through/  It  was  a  wonderful  tableau." 

In  January,  1912,  I  had  a  mission  in  Jersey,  Guern- 
sey, and  the  Isle  of  Wight.  It  was  computed  that  in 
twelve  nights  I  addressed  over  eleven  thousand  people 
and  that  the  meeting  held  in  Guernsey  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Lieutenant-Governor  was  the  largest  one 
ever  held  in  the  island,  there  being  about  2,500  persons 
present.  Many  pledges  were  taken,  and  from  reports  I 
have  received  from  all  parts  of  England  and  from 
the  Islands,  Good  Samaritanship  is  busy  along  Catch- 
my-Pal  lines  in  lifting  up  the  fallen  and  bringing  in  the 
outcast. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
CATCH-MY-PAL  IN  WALES 

I  WAS  invited  to  address  three  meetings  in  Cardiff  in 
October,  1910,  and  the  North  Wales  Temperance 
Federation  invited  me  to  conduct  a  campaign  within 
its  area  in  April,  1911.  The  Rev.  J.  Glyn  Davies,  of 
Rhyl,  arranged  my  meetings.  In  a  published  report 
of  this  campaign  Mr.  Davies  said,  inter  alia: 

"The  Rev.  R.  J.  Patterson  has  just  concluded  a 
week's  work  in  North  Wales,  visiting  Llandudno, 
Bangor,  Denbigh,  Rhyl,  Mold,  Wrexham,  Ma- 
chynlleth,  Aberystwyth,  and  Connah's  Quay.  And  a 
rare  week  it  has  been.  While  the  temperance  senti- 
ment is  clear  and  strong  in  North  Wales,  perhaps 
clearer  and  stronger  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  yet  owing  to  difficulties  of  language 
and  religion  and  politics,  united  temperance  action  is 
almost  impossible.  Not  only  is  sect  supreme,  but  the 
bilingual  hindrance  is  most  grievously  real.  Mr.  Pat- 
terson's meetings  brought  the  sects  and  the  tongues 
together  in  a  wonderful  manner.  .  .  .  We  knew  that 
he  had  started  a  great  movement,  and  that  it  had 
spread,  man  bringing  man,  and  pal  catching  pal,  till 
Ireland  had  become  a  messenger  of  hope  to  the  rest 
of  the  Kingdom.  When  he  came  he  was  not  a  stranger. 
We  prepared  our  best  centres  for  him,  took  the  biggest 
buildings,  printed  the  bravest  placards,  made  a  high- 
way of  hope  for  his  coming.  Crowds  gathered  to  his 
hearing.  Englishmen  and  Welshmen,  churchmen  and 
chapelmen,  abstainers  and  drinkers,  they  have  gath- 
ered in  their  hundreds,  and  it  has  been  wonderful 

84 


CATCH-MY-PAL    IN    WALES 

in  our  sight.  It  was  not  a  League  football  match,  nor 
yet  a  Lloyd  George  meeting;  it  was  just  simply  a  tem- 
perance gathering.  The  buildings  were  full ;  the  spirit 
was  grand;  the  success  was  complete.  In  collegiate 
towns  like  Bangor  and  Aberystwyth,  in  seaside  resorts 
like  Rhyl  and  Llandudno,  in  busy  centres  like  Mold 
and  Wrexham  and  Connah's  Quay,  in  inland  towns 
like  Denbigh  and  Machynlleth,  all  along  the  line,  every- 
where alike,  the  crusade  caught  on.  .  .  . 

"No  man  can  do  much  who  does  not  know  and  who 
does  not  feel  that  he  has  been  called  and  sent.  Mr. 
Patterson  has  this  unmistakable  power,  he  knows  that 
God  has  called  him.  What  an  inspiration  it  is!  How 
it  sustains  him!  How  it  fires  him!  How  it  puts  into 
him  the  patience,  the  perseverance,  the  pluck  of  a  man 
who  has  a  work  to  do,  and  cannot  yield,  cannot  rest, 
cannot  die  till  that  work  is  done.  The  deliverance  of 
the  drunkard — there  is  his  one  work.  To  that  he  is 
called;  thereto  he  is  bound.  He  is  a  man  of  one 
work.  ...  I  should  not  call  him  an  orator.  God  save 
us  from  orators!  .  .  .  the  vehemence  of  it  all,  body, 
blood,  brain,  in  passion  and  storm,  it  all  but  swept  us 
off  our  feet.  We  cheered  and  laughed  and  cried.  We 
signed  the  pledge ;  we  shook  our  fists ;  we  went  out  to 
•fight  the  drink  as  we  have  never  fought  it  yet.  What 
else  could  we  do  ? 

"As  he  himself  says,4  he  has  got  a  'story  to  tell.' 
That  is  all.  He  is  not  a  temperance  lecturer ;  he  does 
not  presume  to  be  an  expert  on  the  temperance  ques- 
tion. He  knows  little  of  the  'action  of  alcohol  on  the 
heart  and  the  stomach  and  the  kidneys,'  as  he  himself 
told  us.  I  never  heard  him  mention  delirium  tremens 
and  cirrhosis  of  the  liver.  I  doubt  whether  he  has  ever 
read  Horsley  and  Sturge.  But — and  oh !  what  a  BUT 
— he  has  a  'story  to  tell.'  And  such  a  story!  A  won- 
derful story!  One  of  the  stories  of  a  century!  .  .  . 
Some  cynics  will  doubtless  decry  his  methods;  but 
when  these  will  have  a  'story  to  tell,'  a  great  story  of 

85 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

some  noble  work  started  by  themselves,  they  can  well 
dare  to  criticise.  Till  then  they  had  better  hold  their 
tongues. 

"He  has  given  us  a  new  idea,  simple,  but  noble, 
'Catch-my-Pal.'  Why  did  we  not  think  of  it  before? 
He  has  roused  us,  united  us,  started  us  on  a  new  fresh 
quest.  He  has  given  temperance  work  a  new  turn 
and  temperance  workers  a  new  spirit.  Surely  that  is 
a  precious  service." 

One  of  the  outstanding  features  of  the  meetings  in 
Wales  was  the  attendance  of  so  many  ministers  on  the 
platform.  With  a  few  exceptions  of  places  in  Ireland 
and  England,  nowhere  have  I  received  such  enthusias- 
tic encouragement  from  ministers  as  in  Wales. 

Many  pledges  to  work  more  earnestly  in  the  tem- 
perance cause  were  taken  in  the  course  of  the  cam- 
paign. Branches  were  formed  not  only  in  places  I  vis- 
ited but  in  other  places  through  correspondence.  The 
results  of  the  few  meetings  addressed  by  me  in  the 
Principality  are  embodied  in  the  following  resolution 
I  had  the  honour  of  receiving  from  the  Federation 
some  weeks  after  the  close  of  the  campaign: 

"That  we  place  on  record  our  very  deep  gratitude 
to  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Patterson  for  his  visit  to  North 
Wales,  for  his  splendid  advocacy  of  the  principles  of 
temperance,  especially  as  they  bear  upon  the  duty  and 
responsibility  of  the  individual,  for  the  very  real  im- 
petus he  has  given  to  temperance  among  us,  and  for 
the  hope  we  have  that  the  seed  he  has  sown  will  next 
winter  bear  abundant  fruit  in  renewed  energy  and 
zeal." 


86 


CHAPTER  XX 
CATCH-MY-PAL  BECOMING  WORLD-WIDE 

I  HAD  the  great  honour  of  an  invitation  to  address  the 
International  Congress  on  Alcoholism  at  The  Hague 
in  September,  1911.  I  felt  about  it  as  I  did  about  the 
invitation  to  London.  But  when  I  thought  of  all  God 
had  wrought  through  the  simple  story  I  had  to  tell,  I 
believed  He  would  use  it  on  the  Continent  as  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  three 
occasions.  On  one  of  them  I  told  my  story.  The  ef- 
fect of  my  address  is  best  described  in  the  words  of  a 
German  priest  who,  when  I  came  down  from  the  plat- 
form, came  and  shook  hands  with  me  and  said,  as 
he  pointed  to  his  head  and  his  heart:  "I  thank  you 
for  what  you  have  said ;  it  has  not  only  appealed  to  my 
head,  it  has  also  touched  my  heart."  I  did  not  under- 
stand many  of  the  speeches,  delivered  as  they  were  in 
foreign  tongues ;  but  I  gathered  from  the  printed  syn- 
opses of  them  that  very  few  of  them  dealt  with  the 
Temperance  Problem  from  the  point  of  view  of  in- 
dividual responsibility.  The  Catch-my-Pal  story  deals 
with  the  problem  along  personal  lines  which  will 
eventually  lead  into  legislative  action.  I  may  be 
wrong,  but  /  think  too  many  reformers  are  trying  to 
work  along  legislative  lines  while  neglecting  the  per- 
sonal endeavour  which  forms  the  public  opinion  on 
which  legislative  action  depends. 

Many  friends,  unknown  to  me,  have  written  me 
to  say  that  Catch-my-Palism  is  "just  the  thing  we 
want."  Many  of  the  members  of  The  Hague  Con- 
gress, from  many  countries,  expressed  themselves  to 

87 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

me  in  the  same  way.  Good  Samaritanship  must  al- 
ways appeal  to  the  head  and  touch  the  heart,  and, 
while  the  Temperance  Problem  requires  all  the  head 
we  can  give  to  it,  it  must  get  far  more  heart  than  it 
has  ever  yet  got  before  those  who  want  to  solve  it  have 
proved  themselves  in  deadly  earnest  in  the  face  of  a 
cynical  world. 

It  was  arranged  that  I  should  address  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Dutch  "National  Christian  Teetotal- 
lers' Association"  at  Haarlem,  at  eleven  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  my  arrival  in  Holland.  I  had  received 
no  instructions  about  hospitality,  and  when  my  wife 
and  I  arrived  at  ten  o'clock  there  was  no  one  to  meet 
us  at  the  station.  I  did  not  know  where  the  meeting 
was  to  be  held.  No  one  at  the  station  knew  anything 
about  it,  but  a  porter  who  could  speak  a  little  English 
told  me  that  a  gentleman  had  been  at  the  station  ex- 
pecting me  by  an  earlier  train.  I  surmised  that  this 
gentleman  was  to  be  my  host,  and  that  if  I  could  find 
him  I  could  find  the  place  of  meeting.  I  got  his  name 

on  a  piece  of  paper,  Monsieur  B ,  Overveen.     It 

was  given  to  the  driver  of  a  four-wheeler.  He  drove 
to  Overveen,  almost  two  miles  away.  My  speech  was 
to  be  made  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  it  was  now  ten-thirty ! 
I  thought  the  driver  would  never  stop.  He  could  not 
understand  me,  and  much  less  could  I  understand  him. 
He  drove  on.  His  carriage  was  going,  going,  and  so 
was  the  time !  He  arrived  at  a  house,  made  enquiries, 
found  he  was  on  the  wrong  trail,  went  to  another 
house,  rang  the  bell,  told  his  story,  and  seemed  to 
stand  in  blank  wonderment  before  the  maid.  I  essayed 
an  enquiry,  but  could  convey  no  idea.  No  Monsieur 
B.  lived  there  in  any  case.  Several  servants,  both 
outdoor  and  indoor,  gathered  around  us  and  our  four- 
wheeler.  They  chattered,  and  my  wife  and  I  chat- 
tered. I  saw  a  young  gentleman  passing  through  the 
grounds  and  hailed  him  with:  "Do  you  speak  Eng- 
lish?" 

88 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

"Yah,  yah,  a  leetle." 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  Monsieur  B.  lives?" 

"Nah,  nah." 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  the  Post  Office  is?" 

He  did  not  understand.     Stuck  again! 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  the  telegraph  is?" 

"Yah,  yah,  telegraaf  and  post,  telegraaf  and  post, 
yah,  yah." 

I  asked  him  to  direct  my  driver  to  the  telegraaf. 
He  did  so. 

"Do  you  think  he  knows  where  he  is  to  go?"  I 
asked. 

"Yah,  yah." 

"Well,  tell  him  again,"  I  said. 

He  told  him  again,  and  off  we  drove.  When  we 
arrived  at  the  Telegraph  Office  I  ran  in  and  said: 
"Does  anyone  here  speak  English?" 

A  young  Dutchman  came  forward  and  said :  "Yes, 
I  speak  English." 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  Monsieur  B.  lives  here?" 

"Oh,  yes,  he  lives  quite  near  this." 

I  asked  that  my  driver  should  be  directed,  so  he 
came  out  and  directed 'him. 

"Do  you  think  he  knows  where  to  go?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Well,  tell  him  again,  if  you  please." 

He  told  him  again,  and  we  drove  off  again,  accom- 
panied by  a  telegraph  boy  on  a  bicycle,  sent  by  the 
young  Dutchman  to  make  sure  we  arrived. 

We  drove  up  a  fine  avenue  through  stately  trees  to 
a  lordly  mansion.  Monsieur  B.  lived  there,  but  he  was 
not  at  home.  Neither  was  Madame  B. ;  and  the  maid 
could  not  tell  my  driver  where  they  had  gone!  Stuck 
again!  It  was  now  eleven  o'clock,  and  I  was  booked 
for  a  speech  at  eleven  at  a  meeting  of  the  National 
Christian  Teetotallers'  Association ! 

Bewilderment  was  settling  down  upon  my  wife  and 
myself  and  the  four-wheeler  and  the  horse  and  the 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

whip,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  the  equally  bewildered 
maid  rushed  into  the  house  and  left  my  wife  and  my- 
self and  the  horse  and  the  whip  all  staring  at  one 
another  in  that  four-wheeler !  Very  soon  there  was  a 
rush  out  of  the  house. 

A  young  lady  came  bounding  over  to  me  and  greeted 
me:  "Are  you  Mr.  Patterson?"  She  was  English! 

"You  are  one  of  God's  good  angels  to  me  this  day 
among  all  these  barbarians!"  I  jokingly  replied. 

She  explained  everything,  told  me  that  our  host  and 
hostess  were  at  the  meeting,  where  the  meeting  was, 
how  much  I  should  pay  the  driver,  and  so  on.  I  asked 
her  to  tell  the  driver  where  to  go.  She  did  so.  I 
asked  her  if  she  thought  he  understood  where  to  go. 

"Oh,  yes." 

"Well,  please  tell  him  again." 

She  told  him  again,  and  we  trotted  off  and  arrived 
just  as  the  meeting  was  ready  for  me,  as  my  predeces- 
sor on  the  platform  had  exceeded  his  time. 

I  gave  my  address  through  Miss  Crommelin,  treas- 
urer of  The  Hague  Congress,  who  kindly  acted  as 
interpreter,  and  I  received  much  applause  when  I  told 
the  audience  that  it  was  the  first  meeting  I  had  ad- 
dressed outside  my  own  country.  My  story  evidently 
entered  the  hearts  of  many  there,  and  I  found  that 
what  went  home  in  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  was  not 
lost  in  Holland.  But  I  found  also  that  the  delay  of 
interpreting  was  a  great  hindrance  to  enthusiasm.  I 
was  much  delighted  to  find  that  information  about  the 
movement  had  been  given  in  several  Dutch  papers  and 
magazines,  and  that  most  of  those  whom  I  addressed 
were  already  familiar  with  my  story. 

Two  days  after  the  meeting  in  Haarlem  I  went  to 
Arnhem  to  address  a  popular  meeting  which  had  been 
arranged  by  telegram  from  Belfast  on  the  previous 
Saturday.  The  lady  who  wired  me  had  worked  up  a 
splendid  audience,  which  I  addressed  through  a  Dutch 
minister  as  interpreter.  Sixty-three  persons  signed  the 

90 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

Catch-my-Pal  pledge  and  "took  the  button"  and  did 
their  recruiting  work  with  most  encouraging  success. 
As  I  now  write  I  have  received  a  letter  to  say  that 
there  are  four  hundred  pals  in  the  Arnhem  branch. 

This  letter  tells  me  that  the  Catch-my-Pal  move- 
ment is  now  being  organised  in  connection  with  the 
National  Christian  Teetotallers'  Association,  as  the 
temperance  workers  do  not  think  it  wise  to  have  a 
separate  society.  The  National  Association  has  ap- 
pointed a  special  Catch-my-Pal  Committee  to  further 
the  aggressive  movement  all  over  the  country.  It  is 
interesting  to  read  that  "the  Roman  Catholics  have 
copied  the  Catch-my-Pal  pledge  card.  The  more  pals 
are  caught  the  better,  but  we  think  it  wiser  that  each 
denomination  should  catch  for  its  own  society."  "We 
would  have  asked  you  to  come  back  to  Holland  again 
to  address  meetings,  but  we  were  afraid  you  would 
found  a  separate  society  with  a  too  strongly  marked 
Irish  stamp.  Now,  I  think,  when  our  organisation  is  a 
little  more  complete,  this  fear  will  be  greatly  lessened ; 
you  will  then  come  to  an  existing  organisation." 

The  Dutch  have  two  ways  of  saying  "Catch-my- 
Pal,"  namely:  "Vang  mijn  Kameraad,"  and  "Pak 
mijn  Maat."  As  I  was  going  to  my  host's  house  one 
day  at  Haarlem  I  was  not  sure  of  my  way.  I  met  a 
young  gentleman  of  whom  I  enquired  the  way.  He 
said  he  would  walk  with  me.  He  seemed  curious 
about  me,  a  foreigner,  and  asked  where  I  came  from. 
I  told  him  I  was  an  Irishman.  He  was  immediately 
turned  into  a  bundle  of  notes  of  interrogation.  No 
man  stirs  up  so  much  curiosity  in  the  bosom  of  a  for- 
eigner as  an  Irishman.  He  seems  to  be  an  international 
puzzle.  My  friend  asked  me  what  I  was  doing  in 
Holland,  and  I  told  him  I  had  come  over  to  address 
the  Congress  on  alcoholism  at  The  Hague.  He  had 
read  about  the  Congress.  Then  he  asked  me  what  I 
had  spoken  about.  I  said  I  had  come  to  speak  about 
the  "Vang  mjin  Kameraad"  movement.  He  shook  his 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

head  in  very  solemn  fashion,  with  a  blank  look  in  his 
eyes,  and  said  "Nah,  nah." 

I  ventured  on  the  other  name,  and  said  I  had  been 
speaking  on  the  "Pak  mijn  Maat"  movement  The 
same  blank  look  came  into  his  eyes.  Evidently  he 
knew  nothing  of  "paking  maats."  Then  I  thought  I 
would  venture  on  plain  English,  so  I  said  I  had  been 
speaking  on  the  "Catch-my-Pal"  movement.  He  al- 
most whirled  me  into  the  hedge  in  the  vehemence  of 
his  gesticulation  as  he  showed  his  recognition  of  the 
name,  and  said: 

"Oh,  yah,  yah,  yah,  yah,  Catch-ma-Pal,  Catch-ma- 
Pal,  Catch-ma-Pal,  oh,  yah,  yah,  yah,  yah."  It  was 
very  gratifying  to  find  a  Dutchman  by  the  wayside  in 
his  own  country  who  seemed  familiar  with  the  name 
that  some  of  my  own  countrymen  despised.  And  it  is 
also  very  gratifying  that  this  little  book,  which  was 
published  first  in  London  in  August,  1912,  was  trans- 
lated into  Dutch  by  the  Rev.  I.  van  Dorp,  D.D.,  of 
Gendringen,  Holland,  and  published  in  that  language, 
early  in  1913. 

I  had  never  been  on  the  Continent  before.  While  I 
was  charmed  with  the  flowers  of  Holland,  admired  its 
towns,  enjoyed  its  splendid  hospitality,  and  was 
amazed  at  its  "Lesson  in  Anatomy,"  I  was  disappointed 
in  the  country.  An  Irishman  was  travelling  through 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  He  remarked  to  a  fellow 
travelling  in  the  train  "That  wud  be  a  very  livil 
counthry,  yir  honour,  only  fur  thim  hills."  And  I 
thought,  as  I  went  about  in  the  Dutch  trains,  that 
Holland  would  be  a  very  hilly  country  only  for  "thim" 
plains.  May  she  get  her  back  up  as  a  great  mountain 
ridge  in  her  determination  to  throw  off  the  drink-yoke 
that  is  crushing  so  many  of  her  people  as  flat  as  her 
fields! 

A  German  professor  who  heard  the  Catch-my-Pal 
story  at  The  Hague,  went  back  to  his  home  at  Heidel- 
berg and  started  a  Catch-my-Pal  branch.  Some  days 

92 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

afterwards  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  a  letter 
from  him,  conveying  to  me  the  greetings  of  the  first 
pals  in  Germany,  and  an  assurance  of  his  desire  and 
determination  to  have  the  movement  set  a-going  in 
the  Fatherland. 

Temperance  enthusiasts  and  authorities  in  France, 
Switzerland  and  Denmark,  have  written  on  the  move- 
ment in  various  magazines  in  their  respective  coun- 
tries, and  I  have  received  from  a  friend  in  Denmark 
an  assurance  that  he  will  do  all  in  his  power  to  have 
the  movement,  on  which  he  has  written  several  ar- 
ticles, introduced  to  his  people,  and  this  book  trans- 
lated into  the  Danish  language. 

An  Irish  chaplain  started  the  work  among  the  troops 
to  whom  he  ministered  on  the  coast  of  China,  and  a  lit- 
tle history  of  the  movement  has  been  written  in  the 
Chinese  language  and  published  in  China. 

The  movement  is  at  work  in  nearly  every  British 
Colony,  among  the  coloured  people  in  Kingston,  Ja- 
maica and  in  Ibobo,  West  Africa,  where  there  is  a 
prosperous  branch,  and  some  time  ago  I  had  a  request 
for  information  from  a  missionary  in  British  East 
Africa  who  wanted  to  start  the  crusade  among  the 
pagan  people  there  who  are  being  ruined  by  rum. 

AMERICA 

SOME  months  after  the  movement  started  I  was  asked 
by  many  ministers  and  others  when  I  intended  to  go  to 
America.  I  said  that  I  would  not  go  till  I  was  asked. 
They  said  that  I  should  go  as  soon  as  possible,  as  the 
American  papers  had  told  all  about  the  movement 
and  the  Americans  would  want  to  hear  about  it  before 
it  became  a  thing  of  yesterday.  Certainly  I  did  wish 
to  go  to  America,  but  I  did  not  care  to  push  myself. 
I  believed  an  invitation  would  come  to  me  in  God's 
good  time,  just  as  He,  in  His  good  time,  enabled  me 
to  start  the  movement. 

93 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

In  1912  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Minton,  D.D.,  of  Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  Ex-Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  President  of  the  National  Reform  Asso- 
ciation of  Pittsburgh,  was  in  Ireland  looking  for  ma- 
terial for  the  platform  of  The  Second  World's  Chris- 
tian Citizen  Conference,  to  be  held  in  Portland,  Ore- 
gon, in  July,  1913.  He  was  in  Belfast,  June,  1912,  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland.  I  addressed  the  As- 
sembly on  the  Temperance  question,  but  I  did  not 
know  he  was  there.  Some  time  afterwards  I  had  the 
honour  of  being  invited  by  him  to  be  the  Irish  speaker 
at  that  great  Conference.  I  accepted  the  invitation 
and  came  to  America  in  May,  1913. 

Meetings  were  arranged  for  me  by  the  Association 
on  my  way  to  and  from  Portland.  I  travelled  twenty- 
one  thousand  miles  in  the  United  States  in  a  little 
more  than  four  months,  and  addressed  many  Chautau- 
quas,  Summer  Assemblies,  Ministerial  Associations, 
Young  Men's  Associations,  Church  Synods,  and  Wom- 
en's Christian  Temperance  Union  Conferences  and 
Rescue  Missions. 

Everywhere  I  went  my  message  was  received  with 
much  keenness  and  interest.  Nearly  everywhere  I 
was  told,  "this  is  just  the  thing  we  want  in  temperance 
work."  I  did  not  organise  the  movement,  as  the  time 
of  the  year  and  the  personnel  of  the  meetings  were  not 
favourable  for  organisation.  I  was  out  on  an  adver- 
tising tour,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that,  as  far  as  I  can 
learn,  my  advertising  was  not  in  vain. 

At  least  sixty  thousand  people  repeated  the  Catch- 
my-Pal  pledge  at  the  meetings  I  addressed  in  America 
in  1913. 

At  the  Portland  Conference  I  addressed  twelve  thou- 
sand people  on  a  Wednesday  night,  and  fifteen  thou- 
sand at  the  concluding  meeting  on  the  following  Sun- 
day. On  both  occasions  the  whole  audience  rose  at 
my  request  and  repeated  the  oledge  and  then  closed 

94 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

their  fists  and  said,  "We  will  see  this  thing  through !" 
I  never  saw  such  inspiring  sights.  It  was  worth  my 
while  to  travel  all  the  way  from  Ireland  to  see  them. 
And  yet  there  was  a  little  Portland  incident  which  com- 
forted me  more  than  all  the  enthusiasm  in  the  great 
meetings.  One  day  I  went  into  a  great  department 
store.  The  manager  of  one  of  the  departments  ac- 
costed me  and  said,  "Good  evening,  Mr.  Patterson." 
I  said,  "How  do  you  know  me?"  And  he  answered, 
"I  was  at  the  meeting  on  Wednesday  night  and  heard 
you  speak.  I  had  been  a  moderate  drinker,  but  I  never 
drank  to  be  drunk.  My  wife  often  asked  me  to  give 
up  the  drink  altogether,  but  I  never  could  see  my  way 
to  do  so.  Your  appeal  on  Wednesday  went  home  to 
me  in  such  a  way  that  I  could  resist  no  longer.  So, 
when  you  asked  us  all  to  stand  up  and  repeat  the 
pledge,  I  stood  up  and  looked  at  my  wife,  and  she 
looked  at  me.  With  uplifted  hand  I  repeated  your 
pledge  and  your  watchword.  Now  the  drink  is  gone 
for  ever  from  my  life  and  my  wife  is  as  happy  as 
the  day  is  long,  and  I  want  to  thank  you  for  what  you 
have  done  for  me." 

I  conducted  a  week's  meeting  in  Detroit.  As  I 
passed  a  church  one  day  I  saw  that  the  Women's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  of  Michigan  was  holding 
its  annual  conference.  I  said  to  myself,  "I'll  go  in  and 
hear  what  these  women  are  talking  about."  I  went 
into  the  church  and  stood  in  a  corner  near  the  door. 
A  lady  rose  up  and  came  towards  the  door.  Just  as 
she  was  about  to  pass  me  she  stopped  and  said  to  me, 
"Can  you  tell  me  where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Patterson, 
Catch-my-Pal,  is  to  speak  in  Detroit  to-morrow  night? 
I  want  to  go  to  hear  him."  I  said,  "Well,  this  is  funny 
that  you  ask  me  this  question?"  And  she  asked  me, 
"Why  is  it  funny  ?"  "Well,  you  see,  I  am  just  the  per- 
son you  are  enquiring  about !"  "And  are  you  Mr.  Pat- 
terson?" On  her  being  assured  that  it  was  even  as 
I  had  said  she  asked,  "Does  our  president  know  you 

95 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

are  here  ?"  I  said  that  no  one  knew  I  was  there,  that 
I  knew  nobody  there,  and  that  I  did  not  wish  anyone 
to  know  I  was  there,  as  I  was  anxious  to  hear  what 
the  women  had  to  say  on  the  Temperance  question. 
She  immediately  turned  and  said,  "But  our  president 
must  be  told  you  are  here."  And  away  she  walked  up 
to  the  platform.  The  president  came  down  to  me  and 
insisted  on  my  going  up  to  give  an  address.  I  said, 
"What  about  your  printed  programme?"  She  said, 
"O,  never  mind  the  printed  programme.  We  must 
hear  about  Catch-my-Pal,  and  you  can  talk  to  us  for 
half  an  hour."  I  'talked'  for  half  an  hour,  at  the  end 
of  which  about  five  hundred  women  rose  to  their  feet, 
lifted  their  hands,  repeated  the  pledge,  shut  their  fists 
and  said  in  the  most  vigorous  manner,  "We  Will  See 
This  Thing  Through !" 

I  have  attended  many  meetings  of  women  in  Ameri- 
ca, and  I  have  been  delighted  with  the  spirit  of  devoted 
determination  they  are  showing  in  the  fight  against 
the  drink.  I  have  never  heard  better  speaking  than 
at  some  of  these  women's  meetings.  The  leaders  have 
a  thorough  grip  of  the  subject  and  can  express  them- 
selves in  such  clear  and  convincing  language  as  to  draw 
out  the  highest  admiration  of  any  mere  man.  It  is  a 
matter  for  great  thankfulness  that,  through  quiet  and 
peaceable  determination,  the  women  of  America  are 
obtaining  the  franchise.  The  sooner  all  the  women  in 
the  United  States  have  obtained  it  the  better  it  will 
be  for  the  country,  for  I  am  sure  they  will  utilise  it 
for  upsetting  the  licensed  trade  with  an  alacrity  the 
men  are  not  quick  to  show  in  dealing  with  social  prob- 
lems. 

At  one  of  the  Women's  Conferences  I  had  an  un- 
usual experience.  During  the  singing  of  the  opening 
hymn  the  wind  seemed  to  fail  in  the  bellows  of  the 
organ,  and  it  was  in  much  desperation  the  organist 
played  us  through.  I  was  not  on  my  feet  more  than 
five  minutes  when  the  electric  lights  went  out,  and 

96 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

there  we  were  all  in  the  dark  of  an  October  night. 
I  said,  "The  devil  knows  we  are  out  against  him  to- 
night and  he  is  at  his  old  wily  tricks.  He  punctured 
the  organ  bellows,  and  now  he  has  side-tracked  the 
electric  current  in  the  wires.  He  loves  the  darkness 
rather  than  the  light  because  his  deeds  are  evil.  But  I 
am  an  Irishman,  and  I  am  not  going  to  let  the  devil  get 
the  better  of  me  to-night.  If  you  can  hear  in  the  dark 
I  can  talk  in  the  dark  and  we  will  let  the  devil  see  that 
he  is  not  our  master  yet.'5  I  talked  away  in  the  dark. 
It  was  very  weird.  I  talked  to  an  invisible  audience 
for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  although  I  went  away 
quite  exhausted  I  felt  that  his  Satanic  majesty  was 
worsted  even  in  the  dark! 

One  Sunday  afternoon  I  addressed  a  great  meeting 
of  young  men.  The  weather  was  so  warm  that  nearly 
every  man  in  the  meeting  took  off  his  coat.  I  never 
addressed  such  a  coatless  crowd  before.  I  was  not 
long  on  my  feet  till  I  was  apparently  so  hot  that  sev- 
eral men  shouted  to  me,  "Take  off  your  coat !"  I  told 
them  I  had  already  taken  off  my  coat  in  a  more  real 
way,  perhaps,  than  some  of  them,  as  I  had  resigned 
my  church  and  left  my  home  that  I  might  devote  my 
life  to  a  war  against  drink.  I  said  it  was  an  easy 
thing  to  take  off  the  tailored  stuff  called  a  coat,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  oneself  comfortable  on  a  warm 
day,  but  that  something  more  than  that  kind  of  coat- 
doffing  was  necessary  in  these  days  when  the  battle  was 
hot  against  the  legalised  curses  of  our  country.  At  the 
end  of  my  address  I  asked  all  the  men  who  wished  to 
take  off  their  coats  to  fight  against  the  drink  to  stand 
up.  About  400  men  rose  to  their  feet  with  much  en- 
thusiasm and  repeated  the  pledge  and  slogan  to  see  the 
thing  through. 

It  is  gladdening  to  hear  that  the  Railway  Companies 
are  ceasing  to  employ  men  who  take  drink.  No  man 
who  likes  drink  can  be  depended  upon  to  do  the  right 
thing  in  a  sudden  railway  emergency.  I  understand 

97 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

that  the  Banking  Companies  are  also  clearing  out  the 
drinkers,  as  no  drinker  can  be  thoroughly  relied  upon 
in  dealing  quickly  with  serious  financial  transactions. 
If  no  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  it 
is  also  being  found  that  no  drunkard  shall  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  earth.  In  all  my  travelling  over  the  United 
States  I  find,  in  conversation  with  all  classes  of  peo- 
ple, that  there  is  a  rising  tide  of  feeling  after  a  way 
of  clearing  from  before  the  feet  of  progress  the  drink 
hindrance  which  has  blocked  the  way  so  long. 

This  feeling  after  a  way  has  found  articulate  ex- 
pression in  the  resolutions  of  the  wonderful  Confer- 
ence held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  November,  1913,  when 
it  was  unanimously  decided  to  petition  Congress  to 
make  a  national  prohibition  amendment  to  the  Consti- 
tution, and  to  work  for  national  prohibition  and  a 
Saloonless  Nation  in  1920.  At  all  my  meetings  I  have 
brought  this  matter  before  the  people,  and  it  has  been 
received  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  United  States  are  on  the  verge  of  taking  the 
most  momentous  step  on  the  way  to  National  Purity 
and  Progress  ever  taken  by  any  nation.  If  this  step 
is  really  taken,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  United 
States  will  become  the  envy  of  every  other  nation 
under  heaven. 

Many  ministers  at  conferences  and  other  meetings 
throughout  the  country  have  told  me  that  they  will 
adopt  the  Catch-my-Pal  method  in  their  congregational 
activities.  I  have  received  many  assurances  as  to  the 
effect  of  my  message  of  individual  responsibility.  I 
am  not  anxious  to  found  a  great  Society,  but  I  am 
anxious  to  save  society,  and  I  am  not  anxious  about 
the  name,  as  long  as  the  saving  work  is  done. 

When  it  was  time  for  me  to  begin  to  make  prepara- 
tions to  return  to  this  country  in  January  my  wife  was 
ill,  and  in  her  bed  for  some  weeks.  I  told  her  I  was 
going  to  cable  to  Pittsburgh  and  Toronto  and  Chicago 
to  say  I  could  not  go  on  account  of  her  illness.  She 


CATCH-MY-PAL    WORLD-WIDE 

would  not  hear  of  my  staying  at  home.  When  I  said 
that  I  could  not  think  of  leaving  her  in  her  bed,  she 
said,  "Certainly  you  must  go  to  America.  There  is 
only  one  life  at  stake  here,  and  there  may  be  many 
lives  at  stake  if  you  do  not  go  out  to  your  work.  I 
cannot  get  better  if  you  stay  at  home,  for  I'll  be  think- 
ing all  the  time  that  it  was  on  my  account  that  you  did 
not  go  away,  and  this  thought  will  grieve  me  so  that  I 
cannot  be  well.  But  if  you  go  I'll  be  getting  such  news 
of  your  work  that  I  shall  be  encouraged  to  get  better." 
When  I  still  protested  that  I  could  not  leave  her,  she 
said,  "If  you  were  the  Captain  of  a  ship  in  the  Navy 
you'd  have  to  go  to  fight  for  your  country,  even  though 
I  was  ill.  And  if  you  were  a  common  soldier  in  the 
ranks,  you'd  have  to  go  out  to  kill  men  for  the  honor 
of  your  country  and  your  king.  But  you  are  not  being 
called  out  to  kill  men,  but  to  save  them,  and  surely 
you'll  go  for  our  KING/'  I  felt  that  I  could  not  re- 
sist that  appeal,  and  it  was  with  great  heart  tugging 
that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  leave  her.  On  the  night  of 
the  1 5th  January  I  left  Belfast  to  get  the  boat  for  Liv- 
erpool. My  wife  was  so  weak  that  she  could  hardly 
stand;  yet  she  got  up  from  her  bed  and  dressed  her- 
self and  came  out  on  the  stairs  to  say  good-bye,  as  she 
did  not  want  me  to  see  her  in  her  bed  with  my  last  look 
as  I  left  her.  I  wonder  if  there  are  many  women  who 
would  show  such  devotion  to  a  good  cause  ?  I  feel  that, 
next  to  the  inspiration  I  receive  from  Him  Who  loved 
me  and  gave  Himself  for  me,  I  am  inspired  to  go  on 
with  my  work,  even  though  four  thousand  miles  from 
my  delicate  wife,  by  the  splendid  spirit  of  heroism  she 
has  shown,  in  counting  not  her  life  dear  unto  herself 
because  she  has  such  an  intense  desire  to  hear  of  the 
winning  of  the  wanderers  to  a  better  life.  And  I  feel 
that,  believing  in  the  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  God 
cannot  but  bless  my  present  visit  to  America,  if  it  were 
only  for  the  sake  of  that  brave  little  woman  in  her  bed 
in  Belfast. 

99 


CHAPTER   XXI 
A  REVIVAL  JUBILEE 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  year  1909,  many  earnest 
Christians  in  Ireland  were  praying  for  a  revival  to 
commemorate  the  Jubilee  of  the  wonderful  Year  of 
Grace,  1859.  Ministers  were  asked  to  preach  special 
sermons  on  the  subject.  Prayer-meetings  were  held 
in  many  places  over  the  land,  and  there  was  a  great 
expectancy  of  a  special  answer  to  so  much  earnest 
prayer. 

One  night  in  a  manse  in  County  Derry  I  was  sitting 
with  three  other  ministers  talking  about  the  prospects 
of  a  revival.  I  ventured  to  say  that  I  thought  God 
would  not  signalise  the  jubilee  of  1859  by  a  revival 
like  the  one  in  that  year :  that  if  a  revival  was  coming, 
as  I  believed  it  was  (for  people  were  earnest  in  their 
prayers),  it  would  be  an  ethical  one:  that  people  know 
the  will  of  the  Lord;  that  the  revival  would  not  take 
the  form  of  a  revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  but  would 
probably  take  that  of  putting  into  more  definite  prac- 
tice the  will  of  God  which  people  already  know.  On 
my  return  home  I  said  the  same  to  a  leading  minister 
from  Belfast,  who  was  preaching  in  Armagh.  He 
seemed  to  agree  with  me,  and  said  he  would  mention 
some  of  these  things  at  the  prayer-meeting  in  Belfast 
the  following  day. 

It  was  not  long'  after  these  conversations  that  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement  began.  It  showed  many 
extraordinary  spiritual  signs,  such  as  were  expected 
by  many  who  were  praying  for  a  revival;  and  it 
showed  extraordinary  activity  in  putting  into  practice 

100 


A    REVIVAL  . 

the  principles  of  Good  Samaritanship.  No  doubt,  it 
has  been  said  that  the  movement  swept  over  the  coun- 
try more  like  a  religious  than  a  temperance  revival. 
But  it  is  both ;  only  it  recognises  that  the  greatest  bar- 
rier to  the  chariot  of  God  in  the  land  is  the  drink  evil, 
and  it  grapples  with  it  first.  God's  Spirit  seems  to  in- 
spire people  with  the  thought  that  the  drink  demon 
can  be  cast  out  in  a  more  thorough-going  way  than 
was  formerly  thought  possible,  and  that  it  is  for 
them  to  take  this  opportunity  by  the  forelock.  Most 
people  have  already  realised  that  the  drink  is  in  the 
way.  The  new  thing,  in  which  the  revival  manifests 
itself,  is  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  people  begin 
to  take  the  drink  out  of  the  way.  This  is  their  put- 
ting into  more  definite  practice  the  will  of  God  which 
they  already  know. 

//  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  is  not  the  revival 
God  sent  in  answer  to  His  praying  people,  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  no  other  revival  was  sent.  And  those  who 
entered  and  are  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  move- 
ment, looking  at  it  with  their  hearts'  eyes  and  not 
with  the  eyes  of  prejudice,  freely  admit  that  it  is  a 
revival  indeed  and  in  truth,  as  many  a  fireside  saved 
from  the  curse  and  horrors  of  drink  can  testify. 

Sometimes  conviction  leads  to  action.  This  was  the 
note  of  the  revival  in  1859.  The  leper  knew  he  was 
diseased,  and  cried  out,  "If  Thou  wilt  Thou  canst 
make  me  clean."  And  Jesus  said:  "I  will;  be  thou 
clean/'  The  leper's  conviction  of  his  own  state  and 
of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  save  him  led  him  to  take 
action  in  asking  for  salvation. 

In  1859  people  became  alarmed  at  their  own  sin- 
ful state,  and  convinced  of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  save. 
They  believed  and  were  saved.  Their  conviction  led 
to  action,  the  action  of  believing  and  asking  for  sal- 
vation. 

Sometimes  action  leads  to  conviction.  This  was  the 
note  of  the  revival  in  1909.  The  man  with  the  with- 

101 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ered  hand  was  probably  not  thinking  of  Jesus  being 
able  to  save  him.  He  did  not  ask  Him.  He  never 
would  have  thought  of  trying  to  use  his  hand.  The 
case  was,  in  his  opinion,  hopeless.  But  Jesus  asked 
him  to  stretch  out  his  hand,  and  the  very  action  of 
stretching  it  out  convinced  him  of  the  ability  of  Jesus 
to  save  and  of  his  own  ability  to  do,  at  the  command 
of  Jesus,  what  had  seemed  impossible. 

In  1909  many  helpless  drinkers  who  thought  they 
could  never  get  on  their  feet  again  in  a  sober  life 
heard  a  voice  saying :  "Stand  upright  on  your  feet !" 
And  they  stood  upright,  and  are  remaining  so  until  this 
day,  1914,  convinced  of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  save 
them,  and  of  their  own  ability,  at  His  word,  to  do  what 
seemed  impossible. 


10? 


CHAPTER  XXII 

DESPAIRING  OF  No  MAN 

THE  basal  idea  of  the  movement  is  that  every  man  and 
every  woman  is  worth  catching.  We  therefore  despair 
of  no  man  and  despair  of  no  woman.  Our  desire  is 
to  save  the  biggest  drinkers  and  greatest  outcasts,  as 
they  are  the  ones  whom  Jesus  would  first  seek  out  and 
save,  seeing  they  need  His  salvation  most. 

I  fear  that  far  too  often  we  assume  many  men  and 
women  want  to  go  to  the  Devil,  and  we  therefore  do 
not  trouble  doing  anything  to  save  them.  We  look 
upon  them  as  hopeless  and  let  them  go.  Would  it  not 
be  more  in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  Jesus  to  as- 
sume the  best  regarding  each  human  soul,  to  believe 
that  everyone  in  his  better  moments  wants  to  go  to 
Heaven,  and  would  go  if  he  got  a  chance?  In  any 
case,  whether  our  assumption  proves  right  or  wrong, 
let  every  man  have  a  chance. 

There  are  many  jewels  lying  in  life's  dust  heaps, 
which  would  prove  a  fortune  to  those  who  find  them. 
Who  is  the  man  in  the  drunken  gutter?  He  is  a 
human  soul, — a  man  lost  for  the  finding,  a  man  cast 
out  for  the  bringing  in,  a  diamond  in  the  rough  to  be 
lifted,  cut  and  polished,  and  made  a  thing  of  beauty 
and  a  joy  for  ever  in  the  crown  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
King  of  men.  Who  is  that  man  there  in  the  gutter? 
Your  brother  and  mine.  Why  is  he  there?  Very 
largely  through  his  own  fault,  and  also  very  largely 
through  the  fault  of  our  modern  civilisation.  He  has 
his  own  responsibility  for  being  down,  and  the  com- 
munity  in  which  he  fell  has  its  responsibility.  And  the 

103 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

individuals  who  form  the  community  have  their  indi- 
vidual responsibility,  and  it  is  largely  through  their 
fault  the  man  is  down  so  long.  Catch-my-Palism  as- 
serts that  it  will  pass  no  man  and  pass  no  woman  by 
on  life's  highways,  or  down  life's  byways. 

According  to  the  rule  of  the  motoring  road  every 
motorist,  no  matter  how  anxious  he  is  to  arrive  at  his 
destination,  is  called  upon  to  slow  down  and  have  at 
least  the  courtesy  to  ask  a  fellow-motorist  who  has  met 
with  an  accident :  "Can  I  do  anything  to  help  you  ?" 
If  he  passes  by  with  averted  head  and  refuses  to  offer 
assistance,  the  stranded  motorist  would  be  justified 
in  dubbing  him  "a  mean  scrub."  The  one  on  the  road- 
side is  just  as  anxious  to  arrive  at  his  destination  as 
the  other  who  is  passing  by,  but  circumstances  are 
against  him.  He  needs  a  fellow  traveller's  hand  to  give 
him  a  fresh  start;  and  having  got  it  he  may  outstrip 
even  his  helper  on  the  way.  Many  men  and  women  are 
broken  down  in  their  moral  and  spiritual  motor  works. 
They  are  stranded  on  the  way  to  heaven.  They  don't 
want  to  stay  there.  They  would  like  to  go  on.  They 
are  just  as  anxious  to  go  to  heaven  as  the  more  fortu- 
nate ones  who  go  regularly  to  church,  attend  all  kinds 
of  religious  meetings,  and  pay  so  much  attention  to 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  ritual  as  to  show  that  they 
are  tremendously  in  earnest  to  arrive  at  heaven's  gates. 
But,  if,  in  his  earnestness  to  get  to  heaven,  the  church- 
goer passes  a  fallen  brother  by,  and  if  that  fallen 
brother  sees  him  pass  by  with  arched  Christian  eye- 
brows, turned  up  nose,  and  curled  lip,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  he  would  dub  his  more  fortunate  brother  as  a 
"mean  scrub"  ?  Catch-my-Palism  says :  "I'll  not  arch 
my  brow,  or  turn  up  my  nose,  or  curl  my  lip,  or  turn 
away  my  face;  I'll  not  pass  by  on  the  other  side." 

A  lady  is  going  along  the  street  in  her  carriage. 
She  happens  to  drop  a  valuable  piece  of  jewelry  with  a 
diamond  in  it.  As  it  falls  its  light  flashes  into  the  eyes 
of  two  gentlemen  standing  on  the  kerbstone.  They  see 

104 


DESPAIRING   OF    NO   MAN 

it  sinking  into  the  gutter  at  their  feet.  One  pokes 
at  it  with  his  walking-stick  and  the  other  with  his 
umbrella;  but,  the  more  they  try  to  poke  it  out,  the 
more  they  poke  it  in.  They  will  not  stoop  to  lift  it 
with  their  fingers.  They  see  the  carriage  stopping  and 
the  lady  alighting.  She  comes  to  the  place,  takes  off 
her  gloves,  and  puts  her  fair  white  hand  into  the  gut- 
ter. The  thing  is  so  precious  to  her  that  she  gropes 
for  it,  and  feels  for  it,  and  seeks  it  until  she  finds  it. 
And  when  she  has  found  it  she  rejoices  more  over 
that  diamond  than  over  all  the  other  diamonds  about 
her  neck  or  in  her  jewel  casket  at  home.  Life's  high- 
ways and  byways  are  bestrewn  with  diamonds,  fallen 
men  and  women  and  their  children.  They  are  there 
for  the  lifting.  They  make  the  greatest  problem 
of  our  time.  Many  professing  Christians,  steady 
church-goers,  are  standing  by  life's  way  poking  at  the 
problem,  not  with  walking-sticks  or  umbrellas,  but 
with  long,  long,  long  tongues !  They  talk,  and  talk,  and 
talk,  and  talk.  But  talk  never  solved  a  social  problem 
yet.  While  men  are  talking  God  comes  down  from 
glory  and  becomes  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our 
flesh  at  Bethlehem,  and  passes  along  the  way  bestrewn 
with  diamonds  in  the  mire.  He  comes  to  Calvary  and 
there  becomes  sin  of  our  sin,  and  plunges  into  the 
depths  of  human  misery,  debauchery,  and  sin,  and  feels 
after,  and  seeks  after  the  lost  till  He  has  found.  It 
was  His  glory  to  come  into  contact  with  the  foulest  of 
His  day,  and  the  sweetest  testimony  ever  given  Him 
was  that  expressed  in  the  most  magnificent  sneer  that 
ever  crossed  human  lips  when  the  self-righteous 
ones  said :  "This  man  receiveth  the  notorious  sinners 
and  is  friendly  with  them,"  and  in  that  name  above 
every  name,  "the  Friend  of  Sinners."  It  was  the  glory 
of  the  self-righteous  persons  to  stand  aloof  and,  gath- 
ering up  their  holy  garments,  whisk  them  out  of  the 
way  when  an  outcast  passed  by;  and  what  do  the 

105 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

self-righteous  of  to-day  in  all  our  churches  but  just 
the  same? 

This  is  not  an  overdrawn  statement  of  the  case,  if 
we  simply  modernize  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan. The  priest  was  the  one  from  whom  the  man 
on  the  roadside  might  have  expected  most,  and  he 
proved  to  be  the  one  from  whom  he  received  least. 
The  Levite,  from  whom  the  half-dead  one  might  have 
expected  almost  as  much,  gave  almost  as  little.  But 
the  Samaritan,  from  whom  he  would  have  expected 
nothing,  was  the  one  who  saw  his  case  through  by  do- 
ing all  he  possibly  could  to  save  him.  If  we  lay 
special  emphasis  on  the  word  and  in  reading  this 
parable,  we  shall  see  how  clearly  the  characters  of  the 
three  travellers  along  that  highway  are  revealed. 
"And  by  chance  there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that 
way ;  ( i )  AND  when  he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the 
other  side.  And  likewise  a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the 
place,  came  (i)  AND  looked  on  him,  (2)  AND  passed 
by  on  the  other  side.  But  a  certain  Samaritan,  as  he 
journeyed,  came  where  he  was:  (i)  AND  when  he 
saw  him  he  had  compassion  on  him,  (2)  AND  went 
to  him  (3)  AND  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil 
and  wine,  (4)  AND  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  (5) 
AND  brought  him  to  an  inn,  (6)  AND  took  care  of 
him.  (7)  AND  on  the  morrow  when  he  was  depart- 
ing, he  took  out  two  pence,  (8)  AND  gave  them  to 
the  host,  (9)  AND  said  unto  him:  'Take  care  of  him; 
(10)  AND  whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  when  I 
come  again  I  will  repay  thee.' '  And  our  Lord  says  to 
each  of  us :  "Go,  and  do  thou  likewise." 

I  have  seen  a  picture  representing  the  priest  riding 
past  the  fallen  man.  The  priest  has  his  head  turned 
away  as  if  he  were  greatly  engrossed  with  some  object 
on  the  horizon  on  the  other  side,  while  the  ass  turns  its 
head  to  look  at  the  man  in  the  ditch;  the  thought  in 
the  artist's  mind  evidently  being  that  the  beast  had 
more  concern  for  the  fallen  man  than  had  the  man  who 

106 


DESPAIRING    OF    NO    MAN 

was  on  the  beast's  back.  The  man  on  the  roadside 
did  not  want  to  lie  there.  He  wanted  to  go  on  his 
journey  just  as  much  as  the  priest  or  the  Levite  or  the 
Samaritan,  but  he  needed  a  chance,  and  the  Samari- 
tan gave  it  to  him.  It  was  a  case  of  Catch-my-Palism. 
The  Samaritan  saw  his  opportunity ;  he  said :  "Here's 
a  case  for  me,  and  I'll  see  this  thing  through."  And 
he  did. 

A  lady  member  of  one  of  our  branches  told  me  the 
following  story:  "After  the  movement  came  into  our 
town  it  was  laid  upon  my  heart  to  go  and  see  a  woman 
who  was  considered  the  most  abandoned  woman  in 
Jhe  town,  as  far  as  drink  was  concerned.  I  thought  it 
was  quite  useless  to  speak  to  her,  and  yet  I  felt  con- 
strained to  speak.  I  went  to  her  house  and  asked  her 
to  come  to  the  meeting  of  the  Union.  She  came  and, 
to  my  surprise,  she  signed  the  pledge  and  kept  it.  She 
brought  in  her  husband  who  was  also  a  great  drinker. 
He,  too,  signed  and  kept  the  pledge.  They  had  five 
children  who  were  half  starved,  and  their  fireside  was 
almost  like  a  pigsty.  It  is  now  two  years  since  they 
signed,  and  now  they  have  a  well-furnished  home,  a 
well-spread  table,  and  well-fed  children  around  a  happy 
fireside.  Some  time  after  I  asked  this  woman  to  sign 
the  pledge  she  met  me,  shook  hands  with  me,  and,  with 
tears  in  her  eyes  and  a  tremor  in  her  voice,  she  said : 
Thank  you  very  much,  Mrs.,  for  your  great  kindness 
in  speaking  to  me.  Many  a  time  I  was  longing  for 
someone  to  come  and  speak  to  me  the  way  you  did,  but 
no  one  ever  spoke  to  me  but  you/  ''  She  did  not  want 
to  live  in  a  hell  here,  and  her  life  now  shows  that  she 
did  not  want  to  go  to  a  hell  elsewhere.  Catch-my- 
Palism  gave  her  a  chance  by  the  hand  of  one  in  whose 
heart  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

A  man  who  had  become  so  abandoned  to  drink  that 
his  town  had  given  up  all  hope  of  his  recovery  was 
asked  by  a  lady  to  go  to  the  Catch-my-Pal  meeting  and 
take  the  pledge.  He  went  and  signed,  but  was  in  such 

107 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

a  state  of  intoxication  that  the  minister  thought  he  did 
not  know  what  he  was  doing.  The  minister  brought 
him  past  all  the  saloons  on  his  way  home  and,  on  ar- 
rival in  his  kitchen,  saw  two  bottles  of  porter  standing 
in  the  window.  The  minister  asked  the  man  to  bring 
them  to  the  door  and  smash  them,  but  he  said,  "Let 
them  alone,  your  reverence,  let  them  alone."  The 
minister  then  said,  "You  will  take  one  bottle  and  I'll 
take  the  other,  and  each  of  us  will  smash  a  bottle." 
But  he  kept  on  saying  "Let  them  alone,  your  reverence, 
let  them  alone.  I'll  fight  them  out ;  I'll  fight  them  out." 
The  minister  went  away  and  the  two  bottles  remained. 
He  expected  to  hear  the  next  day  that  the  man  was 
drinking  as  usual,  but  found  that  he  was  quite  sober. 
The  bottles  remained  in  the  window  and  the  man  re- 
mained sober.  He  let  them  alone.  He  encamped 
round  about  them  with  a  resolution  of  abstinence.  He 
dug  a  trench  about  them  that  they  could  not  pass  over. 
He  built  a  watch  tower  and  "kept  his  eye  on  them." 
One  day  it  seemed  to  him  that  they  were  holding  a 
council  of  war  as  they  stood  in  the  sunlight  watching 
him.  Evidently  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
best  to  capitulate.  They  decided  to  throw  up  the 
sponge.  They  burst!!!  They  burst  in  the  sunshine, 
and  since  that  day  there  has  been  no  dark  shadow 
cast  by  drink  over  that  fireside.  That  man,  four  years 
ago  a  seemingly  hopeless  drunkard,  is  now  living  the 
Christian  life,  a  notable  miracle  of  grace,  a  living  sur- 
prise to  all  who  know  him. 

One  day  when  bathing  on  the  County  Dublin  coast 
I  lost  control  of  myself  and  found  myself  sinking.  I 
was  the  only  person  in  the  water  at  the  time,  but  some 
young  fellows  were  on  the  rocks  after  bathing.  When 
I  was  just  going  under  the  water  I  threw  up  my  hands 
and  made  signs  of  distress,  and  thought:  "Surely  I 
am  not  going  to  be  drowned  with  those  fellows  there 
on  the  shore?"  I  lost  consciousness  almost  immedi- 
ately, and  the  next  thing  I  knew  was  that  I  was  recov- 

108 


DESPAIRING    OF    NO   MAN 

ering  consciousness  on  the  rocks.  I  asked  who  had 
saved  me,  and  I  was  told  it  was  Rex  Clotworthy,  a 
young  student  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  I  went  to 
his  lodgings  as  soon  as  possible  to  try  to  express  my 
gratitude.  I  asked  him  how  he  got  me  out.  He  said : 
"I  was  up  on  the  path  above  the  rocks,  about  to  mount 
my  bike  to  go  home,  when  I  heard  a  shout  from  the 
shore.  I  saw  a  pair  of  hands  sinking  in  the  water,  and 
I  said:  'There's  someone  in  need  of  me!'  I  had  on 
my  waterproof  and  my  hat  and  spectacles,  and  my 
bathing  dress  in  one  hand  and  a  towel  in  the  other.  I 
dropped  my  bike,  forgot  to  take  off  my  hat  and  spec- 
tacles, forgot  to  drop  the  dress  and  towel,  forgot  about 
the  waterproof,  and  I  just  rushed  down  and  plunged 
in  and  had  a  great  struggle  with  you  in  the  water,  and, 
with  the  help  of  others  who  waded  into  the  water,  I  got 
you  to  the  shore."  I  should  be  a  craven  soul  if  I  did 
not  put  my  friend,  Rex  Clotworthy,  in  the  chief  place 
of  my  heart's  affection,  nearest  to  my  God  and  my  own 
dearest  ones,  because  of  what  he  did  for  me.  I  did  not 
want  to  be  drowned  that  day.  I  wanted  to  be  saved. 
My  whole  past  life  did  not  flash  past  me  in  a 
moment  as  is  said  to  be  the  case  with  a  drowning  per- 
son. My  last  thought  was  of  my  wife  and  two  boys, 
and  it  was  for  their  sakes  more  than  for  my  own  that 
I  longed  for  someone  to  save  me. 

At  evangelistic  and  other  meetings  most  church- 
going  people  are  quite  enthusiastic  in  singing :  "Throw 
out  the  life-line,  throw  out  the  life-line,  for  some- 
one is  sinking  to-day,"  and  the  only  line  that  is  thrown 
out  in  many  cases  is  the  line  of  the  hymn!  But  the 
line  of  the  hymn  is  not  a  life-line,  and  it  never  saved 
anybody.  At  the  sea-shore  Rex  Clotworthy  did  not 
stand  to  sing  about  a  life-line.  He  did  not  throw  out 
the  line  of  a  hymn.  But  God's  angels  surely  heard 
heaven's  harmonies  struck  out  of  the  rocks  by  Clot- 
worthy's  feet  as  he  rushed  to  save  a  brother.  He 
threw  out  the  life-line,  for,  with  all  those  encumbrances 

109 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN- 

about  him,  he  risked  his  life  for  me.  He  threw  out 
himself.  He  put  himself  between  me  and  death.  He 
was  himself  the  life-line.  Can  I  ever  express  my  grati- 
tude to  him  ?  I  wish  I  could  think  there  was  someone 
in  the  world  who  feels  towards  me  as  I  do  towards 
him.  I  should  then  know  that  I  had  not  lived  in  vain, 
that  it  was  a  good  thing  to  have  been  born. 

/  believe  there  are  many  of  our  fellows  who  are 
going  down  into  drunkards'  graves,  who  are  yearning 
for  salvation  from  the  drink  curse.  And,  perhaps, 
they  are  unselfish  enough  to  yearn  for  it,  not  so  much 
for  their  own  sakes  as  for  the  sakes  of  those  dependent 
on  them.  They  feel,  however,  that  circumstances  are 
against  them,  and  as  they  sink  deeper  and  deeper  in 
the  evil  habit  I  can  well  imagine  that  they  are  stretch- 
ing out  the  hands  of  their  souls  and  making  signs  of 
distress,  and  wondering:  "Oh,  is  there  none  of  these 
church-going  people  there  on  the  rock  of  sobriety  and 
professed  Christianity  who  cares  for  my  life?  Is  it 
nothing  to  all  those  who  pass  by  that  I  sink  into  this 
hell?  Is  there  no  one  to  care  for  my  soul?"  I  think 
many  of  this  life's  lost  ones  seem  to  have  no  thought 
for  themselves  because  no  one  else  takes  thought  for 
them ;  they  have  no  respect  for  themselves  because  they 
think  no  one  else  respects  them ;  they  have  no  care  for 
themselves  because  they  think  no  one  else  cares. 

The  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  was  longing  to  be 
healed,  and  it  was  only  when  Jesus  came  that  he  got 
his  chance ;  similarly  it  is  only  when  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
shows  itself  in  the  actions  of  His  professed  followers 
that  our  fallen  fellows  will  get  their  chance. 

I  gave  an  address  at  a  great  meeting  in  England. 
At  the  close  a  young  fellow  came  to  the  platform  and 
began  to  speak  up  to  me.  I  helped  him  to  the  plat- 
form as  he  was  drunk.  He  gibbered  to  me,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  the  most  of  the  great  company  roared  out 
at  him  in  laughter.  I  said :  "Do  you  call  yourselves 
Christians?  Are  you  not  ashamed  of  yourselves? 

no 


DESPAIRING    OF    NO    MAN 

Who  is  this  ?  He  is  your  brother.  Instead  of  laugh- 
ing at  him  you  should  be  sorrowful  to  think  one  of 
your  brothers  is  in  such  a  state.  Laughing  at  a  fallen 
brother!  For  one  moment  will  you  try  to  imagine 
Jesus  laughing  at  this  man!"  The  very  thought  of 
such  an  action  on  the  part  of  Jesus  seemed  to  cow  that 
throng  into  silence  and  shame,  and  I  appealed  to  them 
to  put  the  arms  of  the  town's  brotherhood  around  that 
young  man,  and  save  him  for  a  better  life. 

It  was  remarkable  that  at  almost  every  one  of  my 
meetings  at  the  beginning  of  the  crusade  a  man  under 
the  influence  of  drink  would  be  the  first  to  come  to  the 
front  to  sign  the  pledge.  And  when  such  a  man  came 
forward  I  was  often  told  that  I  should  not  give  him  the 
pledge. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  keep  in  touch  with  the 
subsequent  history  of  each  person  who  signed  in  a  state 
of  intoxication;  but  I  know  of  two  who  were  consid- 
ered hopeless  cases,  and  who  were  living  sober  lives 
the  last  time  I  heard  of  them.  One  of  them  came  up 
to  me  at  the  close  of  my  appeal.  He  was  so  intoxicated 
that  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  he  was  doing.  He 
said:  "Yes,  sir,  I  do  know  what  I'm  doing.  I  am 
the  worst  blackguard  in  the  town."  More  than  a  year 
afterwards  I  saw  that  man  in  one  of  our  great  out- 
door demonstrations.  He  had  taken  no  drink  in  the 
interval,  though  he  had  been  such  a  noted  drinker  that 
it  was  said  of  him  that  he  had  "drunk  three  fortunes," 
and  might  have  been  one  of  the  richest  men  in  his 
district. 

At  another  meeting  a  man  came  up  to  me.  He  was 
so  drunk  that  several  persons,  including  two  ministers, 
told  me  I  should  not  give  him  the  pledge.  I  said: 
"This  is  the  man  I  am  here  for;  this  is  the  man  for 
me."  They  tried  to  prevent  me  from  pledging  him,  as 
they  said  he  was  the  worst  drinker  in  the  town  and  did 
not  know  what  he  was  doing.  I  helped  him  up  on  the 
platform  and  asked  him  his  name.  He  told  me.  I'll 

in 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

call  him  John.    I  addressed  him  by  it,  and  asked  him : 

"Do  you  know  what  you  are  doing,  John?" 

"I  do  know  what  I  am  doin'." 

"All  right,  old  man,  shake  hands." 

We  shook  hands.  I  said:  "Look  here,  John,  by 
the  help  of  God,  you'll  be  the  best  man  in  the  town; 
won't  you,  John?" 

He  looked  at  me  with  his  heavy  eyes  and  said :  "I'll 
try,  your  reverence." 

It  was  most  pathetic  to  hear  that  fallen  son  of  God 
say,  "I'll  try."  I  patted  him  on  the  back  and  asked 
for  three  cheers  for  him.  From  that  moment  those 
who  laughed  at  him  became  his  brothers  and  sisters, 
and  that  outcast  had  the  arms  of  the  neighbourhood 
around  him  in  Christian  love  and  solicitude.  Six 
months  after  that  night  a  local  minister  told  me  that 
man  was  the  best  temperance  worker  in  the  town,  and 
a  year  after,  a  young  lady  told  me  he  was  still  staunch 
to  his  pledge. 

Those  who  have  been  most  vigorous  in  the  Catch- 
my-Pal  campaign  have  found  that,  on  the  average, 
the  most  notorious  drinkers  have  been  the  quickest  to 
respond  to  the  call  of  brotherhood,  and  that  it  is  these 
drinkers  who  are  keeping  their  pledges  best.  If  "joy 
shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  more 
than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  who  need  no 
repentance,"  I  am  sure  that  there  is  joy  in  the  presence 
of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  of  these  reclaimed 
drunkards  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  respectable 
church-going  people,  who  seem  to  need  no  repentance, 
and  who  seem  to  be  thinking  of  nothing  else  but  their 
own  salvation. 

I  wish  this  movement  to  be  known  as  "A  Good 
Samaritan  of  the  Twentieth  Century,3'  that  will  pass 
no  man  and  no  woman  by — A  SALVATION  ARMY 
WITHIN  THE  CHURCHES. 


112 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
BRANDS  FROM  THE  BURNING 

FROM  all  over  the  United  Kingdom  and  many  foreign 
parts  I  am  constantly  receiving  word  that  drinkers 
who  were  considered  to  be  hopeless  cases  four  years 
ago  are  now  living  decent,  sober,  Christian  lives.  I 
here  give  a  few  testimonials  which  will  show  very 
clearly  the  sort  of  folk  this  movement  is  dealing  with, 
and  with  what  results.  While  Catch-my-Pal  is  not  a 
Society  of  Reformed  Drunkards,  it  is  a  Society  for 
reforming  drunkards. 

******* 

"A  man  left  in  comfortable  circumstances  by  his 
father  went  completely  to  the  bad  through  drink,  and, 
losing  everything,  sank  with  his  wife  and  large  family 
to  the  depths  of  wretchedness  and  poverty.  His  wife 
was  often  compelled  to  stay  out  all  night  to  escape  his 
fury.  He  was  frequently  before  the  magistrates.  On 
his  own  statement  he  thought  nothing  of  spending  a 
sovereign  in  a  forenoon  on  drink.  Catch-my-Pal  got 
hold  of  him,  and  for  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  he 
has  been  a  stalwart  in  the  total  abstinence  cause  and 
interested  to  enthusiasm  in  the  furtherance  of  the 
movement." 

******* 

"Two  working  men,  with  wives  and  families,  were 
the  greatest  drunkards  in  this  neighborhood.  They 
have  stuck  to  their  pledge  from  the  first,  while  others 
who  were  looked  upon  as  moderate  drinkers  have 
broken  their  pledges." 

******* 

"3 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"In  connection  with  our  branch  we  have  some  very 
energetic  members  who,  previous  to  their  being 
'caught,'  were  habitual  callers  in  the  saloons.  One  of 
these  men  in  particular  was  down  so  far  that  his  farm 
had  become  bare  of  stock  and  generally  neglected. 
Instead  of  caring  for  it  and  making  it  pay,  he  spent 
any  day  he  worked  in  the  employment  of  his  neigh- 
bours, I  presume  to  get  a  few  shillings  in  hand,  which 
immediately  went  into  liquidation.'  There  is  now 
every  prospect  of  things  looking  up  for  this  man. 
Another  young  man,  of  a  very  cheerful,  jovial  dispo- 
sition, was  getting  into  the  habit  of  having  a  'good 
time'  with  a  few  kindred  spirits  every  available  even- 
ing; came  under  the  influence  of  the  movement;  be- 
came a  member,  and  has  thrown  himself  heart  and 
soul  into  the  meetings,  giving  his  musical  and  literary 
talents  to  the  cause.  He  is  a  splendid  asset  in  our 
fight  with  the  drink.  He  has  now  a  new  outlook  on 
life,  which  he  is  enjoying  as  he  never  did  in  his  drink- 
ing days.  A  pal  of  this  young  man  joined  at  the  same 
time,  and  has  proved  to  be  an  equally  valuable  member. 
His  daily  duties  bring  him  into  constant  contact  with 
children  and  young  people,  among  whom  his  total 
abstinence  principles  are  having  a  fine  field  of  influ- 


ence." 


"We  had  one  very  bad  case  in  this  district,  but  I 
am  glad  to  say  he  has  kept  his  pledge  from  the  begin- 
ning. His  daughter  states  that  he  has  done  more 

work  this  year  than  he  did  for  some  years  past." 
******* 

"Amongst  many  cases  of  salvation  from  drink  which 
I  could  name,  I  will  content  myself  with  one — that  of 
a  tradesman  who,  before  the  introduction  of  the  move- 
ment, although  earning  over  a  pound  a  week,  never 
had  a  penny  to  call  his  own.  I  fear  his  wife  and 
family  were  very  often  hungry.  He  saw  the  error  of 
his  ways.  He  was  one  of  the  first  caught  by  the  Pal 

114 


BRANDS  FROM  THE  BURNING 

movement  here,  and  has  remained  a  faithful  member 
up  to  the  present,  despite  the  jeers  and  laughs  of  his 
former  companions.  He  is  respected  by  -very  one  ex- 
cept the  local  saloon  keepers.  He  told  me  some  time 
ago  that  he  was  better  off  than  ever  he  was  in  his 
life,  and  that  the  desire  to  visit  the  pubs  had  clean 
gone." 

******* 

"Our  most  noteworthy  convert  is  a  professional  man 
whose  home  was  broken  up,  and  who  became  absolutely 
derelict.  He  has  established  his  home  again,  and  is 

now  doing  well  and  prospering." 

******* 

"One  case  stands  out  very  prominently.  A  skilled 
labourer,  with  a  wife  and  family,  spent  practically  all 
his  earnings  on  drink.  His  clothing  consisted  of  rags 
which  he  covered  with  an  old  overcoat  when  going  to 
and  from  his  work.  He  took  the  pledge  fourteen 
months  ago,  and  has  kept  it  faithfully  since,  with  the 
result  that  he  and  his  family  are  now  well  dressed  and 
attend  church  regularly.  A  young  fellow,  a  farm 
servant,  drank  nearly  all  he  earned.  He  took  the 
pledge  for  twelve  months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
was  taken  seriously  ill.  He  thought  some  stimulants 
would  do  him  good,  so  the  old  thirst  was  revived  and 
he  went  on  the  spree  for  a  short  time.  But  he  joined 

us  again,  and  is  now  doing  all  right." 

******* 

"The  case  we  feel  proudest  of  is  that  of  a  man 
whom  everybody  regarded  as  hopeless.  He  astonished 
us  by  coming  to  the  meeting  and  taking  the  pledge. 
That  was  eighteen  months  ago,  and  he  has  not  tasted  a 
drink  since.  He  says,  'anybody  can  quit  drinkin'  if 
he  wants  to.'  He  takes  a  great  interest  in  the  move- 
ment and  has  caught  many  pals." 

******* 

"A  respectable  man,  who  never  was  quite  sober  for 
a  month  at  a  time,  signed  the  pledge  at  the  first  meet- 

"5 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ing  of  our  branch,  and  has  kept  the  pledge  ever  since. 
A  coachman,  who  had  lost  several  good  situations 
through  drink  and  was  working  as  a  labourer,  joined 
and  kept  the  pledge  faithfully.  He  attended  the 
weekly  meeting  regularly.  He  has  now  got  a  good  situ- 
ation and  has  brought  his  family  into  our  membership. 
A  good  tradesman  who  lost  his  situation  through  drink 
joined  us  over  twelve  months  ago.  He  got  another 

situation,  and  is  now  keeping  strictly  sober." 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"A.  B.  joined  at  our  first  meeting.  He  had  often 
been  in  delirium  tremens.  He  is  now  a  new  man,  and 

is  doing  a  good  business." 

******* 

"S.  W.  was  such  a  hopeless  drunkard  that  for  ten 
years  he  lived  on  his  wife  and  children's  earnings.  We 
could  never  keep  him  at  his  work,  although  he  was 
most  skilful.  He  'took  the  button'  twenty  months  ago, 
and  is  now  a  changed  man  and  an  enthusiastic  mission- 
ary. He  is  a  bit  of  an  orator,  and  is  very  helpful  at 

our  meetings." 

******* 

"C.  D.  has  gone  into  the  neighbouring  market  for 
forty  years,  and  was  hardly  ever  known  to  come  home 
sober.  He  joined  the  Union  twenty  months  ago,  and 

has  not  tasted  drink  since  then." 

******* 

"John earned  good  wages  but  spent  it  in  the 

pub  before  he  came  home  to  his  wife  and  two  beautiful 
children.  They  had  taken  the  total  abstinence  pledge 
and  ceased  not  to  pray  for  him.  He  joined  our  Union 
and  has  kept  his  pledge.  He  has  been  promoted  to  a 

very  responsible  position.  I  could  multiply  such  cases." 
******* 

"One  of  our  members  used  never  to  be  sober  from 
Saturday  night  to  Monday  morning.  His  wife  was 
even  worse,  as  she  was  almost  constantly  dazed  with 
drink.  They  had  a  squalid  home,  though  thirty  shil- 

116 


BRANDS  FROM  THE  BURNING 

lings  of  wages  were  earned  weekly.  The  children  were 
ragged  and  allowed  to  do  as  they  pleased.  One  boy 
spent  much  of  his  time  about  the  saloon,  draining  bot- 
tles and  growing  up  to  be  the  pest  of  the  district. 
This  man  was  one  of  the  first  to  take  the  pledge.  He 
was  a  surprise  to  many,  and  many  unfavourable  com- 
ments were  made  to  the  effect  that  he  would  never 
keep  the  pledge.  The  first  evidences  of  reform  were 
a  new  suit,  his  coming  out  to  church,  and  his  children 
coming  to  the  Sabbath  School.  One  boy  has  come  to 
the  Lord's  Table.  His  wife  is  beginning  to  come  to 
church.  He  is  a  member  of  our  committee,  a  constant 
attender  at  public  worship,  and  if  we  had  no  other 
case  and  no  other  reason  for  our  existence  as  a  tem- 
perance movement,  this  one  alone  should  justify  us 
in  holding  on  to  Catch-my-Palism." 

******* 

"A  man  who  was  looked  upon  as  almost  hopeless, 
as  he  was  almost  constantly  absent  from  work  through 
his  being  stupid  with  drink,  joined  our  branch  and  kept 
his  pledge,  although  strongly  tempted  by  his  boon 
companions.  He  is  very  staunch,  a  member  of  com- 
mittee, a  splendid  worker  in  bringing  in  new  pals  and 
backsliders,  and  one  whose  presence  in  our  meeting  is 
an  inspiration  to  us  all.  He  got  a  new  suit  when  he 
joined,  and  he  and  his  family  now  attend  church  most 

regularly.'* 

******* 

"A  hard  drinker  for  many  years,  having  lost  more 
than  one  business  through  drink,  was  induced  by  the 
Church  Army  to  sign  the  pledge  at  midnight  on  New 
Year's  Eve.  He  had  spent  the  whole  day  in  a  saloon. 
He  joined  the  Catch-my-Pal  the  following  week, 
bringing  with  him  another  hard  drinker  to  sign  at  the 
same  time.  He  has  been  working  heart  and  soul  in  the 
Catch-my-Pal  crusade  ever  since,  and  both  are 

changed  men,  keen  on  winning  others." 

******* 

117 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"We  have  a  priest  here  who  is  deeply  interested  in 
temperance  work  and  has  been  very  successful  among 
the  Roman  Catholics.  Some  time  age  he  was  lament- 
ing to  me  the  failures  and  shortcomings  among  those 
of  his  flock  who  had  been  won  over  to  the  great  move- 
ment at  the  first,  and  said  he  was  getting  one  of  their 
accredited  temperance  priests  to  try  and  stir  them  up. 
'But/  said  he,  'I  have  been  observing  your  people 
closely  and  can  see  what  a  great  change  is  being 
wrought  among  them,  and  I  believe  they  are  keeping 

more  strictly  to  their  pledges  than  my  people  are/' 
******* 

"One  man  signed  because  the  saloon  keeper  said  he 

could  not  keep  the  pledge.    He  has  kept  it." 

******* 

"There  is  a  case  of  a  young  married  woman  which, 
I  think,  if  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  had  no  other, 
would  be  worth  all  the  trouble  that  has  been  taken. 
She  was  addicted  to  drink.  I  visited  her  and  asked  her 
to  come  to  the  Catch-my-Pal  meeting.  She  tried  to 
put  me  off,  but  as  I  was  determined  she  said  she  would 
probably  come  after  some  weeks.  I  said  that  would 
not  do,  that  I  would  come  for  her  on  Friday  evening, 
that  she  was  to  be  ready.  But  she  would  not  let  me 
come.  'Well,  then/  I  said,  'I  am  going  to  stay  here  till 
you  promise  to  come.  You  will  make  me  a  cup  of  tea.' 
Finally  she  came,  took  the  pledge,  and  has  kept  it 
ever  since,  although  she  has  had  some  severe  tests.  I 
go  to  see  her  occasionally,  and  when  I  am  from  home  I 
still  have  some  little  thing  for  her  when  I  come  back. 
It  does  not  take  much  to  please.  A  kind  word  goes 
a  long  way.  This  is  one  of  many  cases  I  could  tell  you 

about." 

******* 

"A  woman  who  was  a  great  drinker  and  considered 
in  every  way  the  most  abandoned  woman  in  the  town 
was  brought  into  one  of  our  meetings.  She  signed  the 
pledge,  and  now,  after  more  than  four  years,  she  is 

118 


BRANDS  FROM  THE  BURNING 

living  a  pure  life,  and  goes  about  as  a  miracle  of  the 
Grace  of  God." 

"The  people  of  this  district  are  nearly  all  mill- 
workers,  and  a  few  years  ago  it  was  considered  the 
proper  thing  for  men,  when  they  left  off  work  on  'pay 
Saturdays'  to  go  straight  to  the  saloons  and  sit  drink- 
ing from  quitting  time  till  four  or  five  o'clock,  not 
going  home  for  dinner.  The  apprentices  and  younger 
boys  were  encouraged  and  often  forced  to  accompany 
the  older  men.  This  has  practically  all  been  changed. 
Very  few  men  now  go  from  their  work  to  the  public- 
house.  They  go  home  and  have  their  dinner  and  clean 
themselves  and  go  for  a  ramble  through  the  country 
or  attend  a  football  match  in  season.  Of  course  I  do 
not  mean  to  convey  that  all  drinking  has  ceased,  but 
even  the  men  who  do  drink  do  not  sit  for  hours  in  a 
saloon  as  they  used  to  do.  It  is  now  considered  most 
demeaning  to  be  drunk.  Some  weeks  ago  there  was 
a  social  meeting  at  which  drink  was  served.  Some  of 
the  older  men  became  rather  'heady/  and  I  believe 
it  was  more  or  less  of  a  race  between  those  who  did 
not  drink  to  leave  the  building,  fearing  they  would 
have  to  walk  up  the  town  in  company  with  any  of  the 
persons  who  showed  any  sign  of  liquor.  Not  two 
years  ago  it  was  considered  bad  form  to  leave  the  same 
place  unless  in  a  state  of  intoxication.  There  are  at 
least  dozens  of  cases  of  most  inveterate  drinkers  who 
have  been  saved  from  drink  and  become  enthusiastic 
Catch-my-Pals.  Two  of  these  spent  over  $2,000  in 
drink  in  about  four  years.  Another  used  to  drink  his 
entire  pay,  and  make  his  daughter  support  the  house 

with  her  earnings  and  keep  him  in  clothes." 

******* 

I  could  fill  a  large  volume  with  records  such  as  these 
I  have  given  in  this  chapter.  These  are  given  that 
readers  may  see  at  a  glance  the  kind  of  work  this 
movement  is  doing  among  the  drinkers  in  our  land. 

119 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

All  kinds  of  folk  have  joined  our  ranks.  Men  and 
women  in  almost  every  class  of  society  have  been  res- 
cued. I  know  doctors,  solicitors,  ministers,  business 
men  of  all  kinds,  ladies  of  high  standing  as  well  as 
those  of  low  degree,  who  have  been  lifted  up  out  of 
drink  by  the  hand  of  Catch-my-Pal,  as  an  instrument 
of  the  Grace  of  God. 


120 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
A  TYPICAL  REPORT  FROM  A  BRANCH  SECRETARY 

"So  popular  has  the  Catch-my-Pal  Society  become  in 
our  town  that  we  have  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
men,  women  and  children  asking  our  aid  for  fallen 
brothers  and  sisters.  We  have  had  wonderful  cases 
of  redemption  brought  about  by  an  'unseen'  power 
which  makes  us  feel  God  is  working  with  us  and  by  us. 
"Late  one  Saturday  night,  between  eleven  o'clock 
and  twelve  o'clock,  I  heard  a  timid  knock  at  my  door. 
I  found  two  children,  a  boy  of  twelve  years  and  a  girl 
of  four,  on  my  doorstep.  I  brought  them  into  the 
light.  They  were  well  clothed  and  well  nourished,  but 
scared  and  frightened.  They  said  their  father  and 
mother  were  drunk  and  that  the  mother  had  been  strik- 
ing the  girl.  The  boy  sobbed  in  a  heartbreaking  way. 
When  he  had  got  some  relief  he  told  me  he  had  come 
to  me  as  he  heard  I  had  something  to  do  with  drunk 
people.  My  wife  and  I  gave  the  little  things  supper 
and  put  them  to  bed,  and  then  went  to  enquire  about 
the  parents.  When  we  came  to  their  house,  which  was 
in  a  very  respectable  quarter  of  the  town,  the  door  was 
opened  by  a  drunken  woman.  We  asked  for  her  hus- 
band. She  said  he  was  in  bed,  drunk.  We  asked  about 
their  children,  and  she  broke  into  an  awful  tirade 
against  them,  threatening  what  she  would  do  to  them 
when  they  came  home.  We  came  away  and  went  to 
the  police  barracks,  and  told  an  officer  that  the  children 
were  with  us.  On  Sunday  morning  I  answered  a 
knock  at  my  door,  and  found  the  children's  father  on 
the  step.  A  more  dejected  man  I  never  saw.  He. 

121 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

gasped,  'Are  they  here?'  I  said  they  were,  and  he 
explained  how  he  had  walked  the  streets  since  four 
o'clock  looking  for  them.  He  was  told  by  the  police 
that  they  were  safe,  but  that  he  would  not  be  in- 
formed where  they  were  till  nine  o'clock.  I  said  he 
would  get  the  children  back  on  condition  he  would  join 
the  Catch-my-Pal  society.  He  said  he  would  do  any- 
thing, for  he  never  would  be  in  such  a  plight  again. 
I  arranged  to  visit  his  home  in  the  afternoon.  I  went 
and  found  the  wife  a  poor  victim  of  alcoholism,  so 
much  so  that  her  mind  was  deranged.  She  had  been 
in  an  asylum,  but  was  permitted  to  return  home.  She 
went  back  among  her  old  companions,  the  forenoon 
drinkers,  who  spend  their  time  in  lazy  gossip  while 
their  husbands  are  at  work.  One  of  the  children  had 
died  in  hospital,  and  the  husband  lost  heart  and  took 
to  drink  to  drown  his  sorrow.  Things  became  worse 
and  worse  till  the  incident  of  the  two  children  called 
him  to  a  halt. 

"I  brought  a  Catch-my-Pal  card  and  button  with 
me.  He  signed  the  pledge  and  put  on  the  button.  I 
asked  him  to  come  to  the  next  meeting  of  our  branch 
and  make  a  public  declaration  of  his  having  signed 
the  pledge.  He  did  so,  and  has  faithfully  kept  the 
pledge  since.  The  little  girl  comes  very  often  to  my 
home.  It  is  very  sad  to  see  the  father  doing  everything 
in  the  house.  He  washes,  bakes,  keeps  the  house  in 
order,  puts  the  girlie's  hair  in  curls  every  night,  and 
then  puts  her  to  bed.  The  mother  is  a  wreck  through 
drink. 

"At  one  of  our  meetings  I  told  a  story  of  a  drunken 
man  buying  damaged  fruit  to  bring  home  to  his  chil- 
dren. That  night  a  man  signed  the  pledge.  I  met  him 
about  two  months  after,  and  he  asked  me  who  told 
me  about  his  buying  rotten  fruit  for  the  children.  I 
said  I  did  not  speak  about  him  at  all,  but  of  another 
man.  He  had  been  spending  his  money  in  drink,  and 
brought  home  damaged  fruit  to  his  children,  so  he 

122 


REPORT    FROM   A    SECRETARY 

took  to  heart  what  I  had  said  and  signed  the  pledge. 
He  has  kept  the  pledge  faithfully,  and  told  me  he  has 
now  ham  and  eggs  for  his  breakfast. 

"A  mother  came  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  and,  with  a 
torn  heart,  she  began  to  plead  for  our  aid  for  her  son 
who  had  gone  headlong  into  the^abyss  of  drink  since 
the  death  of  his  father  three  months  before.  He  was 
a  good  fellow,  but  easily  led.  We  went  to  him  and 
asked  him  to  come  and  help  us,  as  he  would  be  of 
great  use  to  us  in  saving  others  from  drink.  He  signed 
the  pledge  and  is  now  one  of  our  most  active  workers. 

"A  father  and  mother  in  a  respectable  class,  whose 
daughter  was  led  astray  and  began  to  walk  the  streets 
at  an  early  age,  came  to  us  and  asked  us  to  intercede 
with  her  and  lead  her  to  a  proper  life.  We  found  her 
in  jail  and  brought  her  to  an  hospital,  and  afterwards 
to  a  home,  where  she  could  work  out  her  salvation,  and 
in  a  year  or  so  be  so  trained  that  she  could  go  to  a  situ- 
ation far  from  the  haunts  of  those  she  knew. 

"We  have  had  striking  success  in  being  the  means  of 
saving  several  poor  fallen  women  who  have  tried  over 
and  over  again  to  begin  a  new  life. 

"That  the  Catch-my-Pal  society  is  doing  good  work 
is  proved  by  the  reports  of  foremen  in  our  large  pub- 
lic works.  Men  who  were  formerly  off  work  through 
drink  are  now  constant  at  the  bench.  Each  man  has 
in  his  coat  the  little  white  and  blue  button,  the  charm 
of  his  life. 

"One  poor  fellow  came  and  joined  our  society.  The 
next  morning  he  was  terribly  burnt  in  the  pit  and  died 
in  the  afternoon.  The  Catch-my-Pal  society  inter- 
ested themselves  in  the  widow  and  children,  and  are 
now  trustees  in  dispensing  the  money  received  as  com- 
pensation. The  sheriff  remarked  that  she  would  be 
better  looked  after  by  our  society  than  otherwise. 

"A  bright  little  mother  glowed  with  pride  as  she 
said/Lort  New  Year  was  the  first  my  husband  ever 

123 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

spent  with  me  and  the  children.3  They  all  came  to  the 
Pal  soiree,  well  dressed  and  happy. 

"On  going  to  my  business  one  morning  a  very  re- 
spectable shopkeeper  stopped  me  and  told  me  about 
his  brother,  who  had  a  wife  and  four  children  and  was 
bringing  them  to  ruin  through  drink.  After  a  hard 
battle  we  got  him  to  join  the  society.  Though  he  fell 
once,  we  got  him  on  the  rebound.  He  is  now  a  staunch 
member  of  the  society  and  was  at  your  meeting  the  last 
time  you  were  in  our  town. 

"There  are  many  interesting  incidents  that  have 
come  under  the  notice  of  other  members  of  the  society. 
I  send  you  these  which  have  come  under  my  own  no- 
tice, and  if  you  can  make  any  use  of  them  you  are  at 

liberty  to  do  so." 

******* 

Such  is  the  record  of  one  branch  secretary.  Many 
such  records  come  to  me  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Down  in  the  human  heart,  crushed  by  the  tempter, 
Feelings  lie  buried  that  grace  can  restore; 

Touched  by  a  loving  hand,  wakened  by  kindness, 
Chords  that  were  broken  will  vibrate  once  more. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
Two  SCOTCH  PALS 

AT  a  great  Unionist  demonstration  in  Belfast  on 
Easter  Tuesday,  1912,  a  man  came  to  me  and  said, 
"I  have  been  watching  you  for  some  time,  and  I  was 
determined  not  to  go  away  without  speaking  to  you." 
I  did  not  know  the  man  and  I  asked  him  why  he 
wanted  to  speak  to  me.  He  said  his  name  was  Law 
and  that  he  was  at  the  first  meeting  I  addressed  in 
Scotland  at  Bellshill.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  joined 
the  Union.  He  said  he  had,  and  that  he  had  great 
need  to  do  so.  He  did  not  appear  to  me  to  be  a  man 
who  had  been  accustomed  at  any  time  to  take  drink. 

Almost  every  place  I  visit,  where  Catch-my-Pal  work 
has  been  in  progress,  /  meet  men  and  women  who  were 
formerly  slaves  of  drink,  but  who  are  now  so  much 
reformed  that  no  traces  of  their  old  life  are  seen  upon 
them.  One  evening  I  sat  down  to  supper  after  a  meet- 
ing and  enjoyed  conversation  with  the  friends  around 
the  table.  When  they  went  away  my  host  told  me 
something  of  the  histories  of  three  of  them.  I  was 
much  surprised  to  find  that  they  had  been  addicted  to 
drink  and  had  been  led  to  give  it  up  through  the  Pal 
movement.  No  one  would  ever  have  suspected  those 
three  of  having  been  heavy  drinkers.  At  a  meeting 
in  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  County  Derry  I  was 
struck  by  the  great  interest  shown  in  the  arrangements 
by  one  man  in  particular.  I  thanked  him  for  his  help, 
and  he  told  me  how  he  had  been  a  great  drinker  and 
had  been  saved  through  the  movement.  At  the  close 
of  the  same  meeting  I  was  addressed  by  one  whom  I 

125 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

considered  to  be  an  elder  of  the  Church.  He  told 
me  how  he  had  been  one  of  the  hardest  drinkers  in 
the  neighbourhood  and  had  been  delivered  from  the 
curse.  "And,"  said  his  wife  who  was  at  his  side,  "no 
one  knows  the  change  that  has  come  over  him  better 
than  I."  "Why/'  I  said,  "your  good  man  looks  so 
respectable  I  thought  he  was  one  of  the  elders!" 

I  asked  Mr.  Law  if  any  good  work  was  being  done 
at  Bellshill,  and  if  there  were  any  outstanding  cases  of 
reform.  He  said  he  would  send  me  some  information 
when  he  went  back  to  Bellshill.  He  requested  the  Rev. 
Daniel  M'lver,  minister  of  the  Evangelical  Union 
Church,  Bellshill,  to  communicate  with  me,  and  I  have 
permission  to  publish  his  communication : 

"In  the  summer  of  1909  I  came  to  the  conclusion, 
after  a  few  months'  work  among  the  ironworkers  and 
miners  of  Bellshill  and  district,  that  something  more 
than  purely  evangelistic  effo/t  was  required  in  order  to 
get  at  the  many  drinkers  hereabout.  Scores  of  men 
might  possibly  listen  to  the  temperance  appeal,  I 
thought,  when  they  would  not  listen  to  the  purely 
evangelistic ;  and  many  would  come  to  a  meeting  of  a 
social  nature  who  would  not  venture  to  a  purely  re- 
ligious gathering.  And  so  while  I  was  discussing  the 
matter  with  my  office  bearers  it  eventually  turned  out 
that  you  were  going  ahead  in  Ireland  with  your  cam- 
paign. This  I  discovered  by  the  article  which  appeared 
in  The  Glasgow  Herald  in  the  month  of  November, 
1909,  in  which  a  full  and  informative  statement  of 
your  good  work  was  made  known  to  Scottish  readers. 
'Here/  I  said,  'is  my  idea  carried  out  in  a  manner  far 
better  than  I  could  have  devised/ 

"The  discovery  of  your  work  was  made  the  basis 
of  future  action  on  my  part.  I  called  a  public  meet- 
ing, at  which  only  eleven  men  responded  when  re- 
quested to  take  the  pledge.  We  formed  ourselves  into 
a  Union  on  the  lines  of  your  own  great  effort,  and  I 
was  made  the  president. 

126 


TWO    SCOTCH    PALS 

"But  the  work  suddenly  sprang  into  favour,  and 
we  noticed  in  a  Glasgow  paper  that  you  were  to  ad- 
dress a  meeting  of  the  Palace  P.S.A.,  Glasgow,  on 
Sunday,  2nd  January,  1910.  As  the  result  of  corre- 
spondence you  addressed  your  first  Catch-my-Pal  meet- 
ing in  Scotland  at  Bellshill  on  Thursday,  3Oth  Decem- 
ber, 1909.  The  minister  of  the  parish  was  in  the  chair 
and  every  minister  in  the  town  was  on  the  platform. 

"The  meeting  was  a  great  success,  all  present  being 
raised  to  the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  with  the 
result  that  sixty-five  men  and  twenty-eight  women 
signed  the  pledge.  That  was  the  first  of  a  succession 
of  good  catches.  The  meetings  are  still  continued  with 
great  enthusiasm,  and  the  membership  reaches  up  to 
hundreds. 

"I  relinquished  the  presidentship  about  eighteen 
months  ago,  in  order  to  get  Mr.  Charles  Law  into  full 
harness ;  for  this  good  man  had  not  long  been  a  mem- 
ber before  it  was  borne  in  upon  me  that  the  future  of 
Catch-my-Pal  in  Bellshill,  under  God,  depended  upon 
Charlie  Law.  Somewhat  under  forty,  a  favourite  with 
most  men,  and  the  best  of  company,  his  conversion 
to  Catch-my-Pal  has  had  great  and  important  results, 
scores  of  men  having  been  won  by  his  enthusiasm.  He 
heard  you  lecture,  but  would  not  sign  then.  His  wife, 
however,  had  stood  up  with  the  others  at  your  meeting 
— an  action  which  brought  the  blush  of  shame  to  her 
husband's  cheek,  especially  as  she  had  no  need  to  take 
the  pledge  for  her  own  sake.  Law  left  the  meeting 
unhappy.  Next  day  mentally  he  continued  to  debate 
the  matter  at  work,  and  as  he  made  his  way  home, 
he  was  met  by  a  chum  who  said:  'Come  on,  Charlie, 
and  let  us  have  a  drink.'  Law  answered :  'No,  I'm 
not  going.  I  was  at  the  Catch-my-Pal  meeting  last 
night  in  the  E.U.  Church,  and  heard  that  Mr.  Patter- 
son from  Ireland,  and  was  never  so  much  impressed 
in  my  life,  and  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to-day  that 
I'll  have  no  more  to  do  with  it.  You,'  he  added, 

127 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

'would  be  well  advised  if  you  gave  it  up  too/  They 
got  past  the  saloon.  That  was  temptation  number  one ; 
and  it  was  no  easy  thing  to  muster  courage  to  pass  a 
drink-shop  into  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  go 
daily  for  years. 

"Temptation  number  two  awaited  him  at  home.  In 
order  to  keep  him  out  of  the  pub  Mrs.  Law  got  the 
brewer  to  send  occasionally  some  bottles  of  beer  to  the 
house.  Mr.  Law  was  supposed  to  drink  one  before 
dinner  in  lieu  of  the  glass  of  whisky  he  would  have 
had  at  the  pub,  every  day,  had  he  gone  in !  'But/  he 
says,  'my  wife  was  deceived,  for  instead  of  passing 
the  pub,  as  she  supposed  I  did,  I  went  in  and  had  my 
whisky,  and  then  when  I  arrived  home  I  took  away 
the  smell  of  it  by  drinking  a  bottle  of  beer.'  Well, 
upon  arrival  home  that  day,  he  found  the  brewer's  dray 
was  at  the  door,  and  the  boy  had  delivered  the  usual 
order.  What  was  to  be  done?  'Minnie,'  said  he  to 
his  wife,  'tell  that  man  to  take  back  the  beer;  and  if 
he  fears  trouble,  give  him  a  shilling  and  I'll  pay  for 
the  whole  thing.  But  it's  not  coming  in  here.'  Temp- 
tation number  two  was  overcome — all  on  3ist  De- 
cember, 1909,  and  he  had  the  New  Year  holidays  to 
face! 

"On  the  8th  January,  1910,  Mr.  Law  signed  the 
Catch-my-Pal  pledge  at  a  meeting  of  the  Union  in 
my  church.  It  was  a  great  social  event,  for  it  meant  a 
very  great  deal  to  a  man  so  popular.  Generous  to  a 
fault,  he  was  the  centre  of  an  influential  social  circle, 
and  on  all  hands  and  at  every  turn  he  was  met  with 
temptation.  His  most  intimate  friends  were  saloon- 
keepers and  frequenters  of  saloons;  this  being  so  he 
was  as  a  man  utterly  deserted,  for  his  new  attitude  to 
the  drink  question  was  the  signal  to  scatter  on  the  part 
of  many  who  would  have  held  fast  to  him  had  he  not 
joined  the  Union. 

"A  manly  man,  keenly  interested  in  all  manly  games, 
Mr.  Law  had  many  friends  also  amongst  the  leading 

128 


TWO    SCOTCH    PALS 

football  enthusiasts  of  Scotland.  When  at  the  Inter- 
national match  in  Glasgow,  April,  1910,  he  was  met  by 
an  outstanding  football  enthusiast,  who  said:  'Come 
away,  Charlie,  and  have  a  drink  for  old  time's  sake/ 
'I'm  sorry,'  he  replied,  'but  this  wee  button  comes 
between  me  and  the  saloon.'  The  enthusiast  slapped 
him  on  the  back  saying:  'Quite  right,  Charlie;  stick 
to  it!'  That  too  from  a  popular  traveller  for  a  firm 
of  whisky  merchants! 

"Mr.  Law  frequently  represents  his  fellow  workmen 
at  the  conferences  between  the  masters  and  representa- 
tives of  the  Iron-workers'  Union.  At  the  conclusion 
of  one  of  these  conferences  he  found  himself  the  odd 
man  in  a  company  of  four,  and  declined  to  enter  the 
pub.  At  last,  at  a  railway  junction  on  the  way  from 
this  conference,  which  was  held  in  an  English  city,  he 
was  appealed  to  not  to  break  the  company,  that  he 
could  enter  the  pub,  and  have  a  temperance  refresh- 
ment. He  considered  so  far  that  he  crossed  the  street 
towards  the  inn ;  but  when  he  got  to  the  door  he  drew 
himself  up  saying:  'No,  I  won't!  It  would  make  me 
weak.'  And  so  he  obtained  the  victory. 

"Mr.  Law  is  now  the  president  of  the  Bellshill 
Catch-my-Pal  Union.  He  has  been  enabled  to  capture 
for  the  cause  many  noted  drinkers.  He  appeals  to  men 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  A  forceful 
speaker,  he  can  use  the  experience  of  his  former  days 
in  a  manner  that  reveals  the  sincerity  of  the  man. 
Neither  vain  nor  boastful  he  will  give  his  testimony 
believing  that  while  there  is  much  that  makes  him  feel 
ashamed,  there  is  also  much  in  it  that  can  help  others 
who  have  been  what  he  once  was.  Day  and  night  he 
works  for  Catch-my-Pal,  and  if  Catch-my-Pal  had 
done  no  more  in  Bellshill  than  win  Charlie  Law  it 
would  have  justified  its  existence.  Devoutly  grateful 
for  the  Union,  he  sees,  in  his  own  case,  that  it  has 
been  the  instrument  of  God.  'I  believe/  he  will  say 
with  the  tear  in  his  eye,  'that  prayers  of  my  dear  old 

129 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

father  and  mother,  now  at  rest,  are  being  fulfilled  in 
my  experience.' 

"With  nothing  namby-pamby  about  him,  Mr.  Law 
gives  a  testimony  that  impresses  because  of  its  clear 
religious  note.  When  pledging  a  man  under  very 
strange  circumstances,  Mr.  Law  got  him  to  hold  up 
his  hand  while  he  would  repeat  the  well-known  words. 
But  the  president  just  got  Tor  God  and  Home  and 
Native  Land'  spoken,  when  the  man  lowered  his  hand 
saying:  'No;  not  for  God.'  (Poor  chap,  he  had  lost 
faith  in  some  Christian  people,  and  so  was  losing  faith 
in  God.)  'Well/  answered  Mr.  Law,  'I  can  go  no 
further  with  you;  for  I  could  not  have  fought  and 
obtained  the  victory  but  for  God,  and  neither  will  you. 
I  have  no  hope  apart  from  God's  grace,  and  I  refuse  to 
pledge  you.'  The  man  was  won  and  is  a  testimony 
to  the  great,  if  unconventional,  work  of  Charlie  Law. 
It  is  a  work  of  God  and  the  man  is  a  token  of  God's 
grace.  He  is  a  wonder  to  himself,  much  more  so  than 
to  the  world." 

******* 

Mr.  M'lver  sends  me  the  following  speech,  given  by 
Thomas  Stewart  at  a  meeting  in  Bellshill  in  November, 
1911: 

"Mr.  Law  won't  give  me  peace ;  he  says  I  must  give 
the  promised  speech.  Well,  here  it  is,  and  I'll  give  you 
a  wee  bit  of  history : — 

"Many  folk  think  I  was  born  in  Scotland,  but  I  was 
not;  I  was  born  in  County  Antrim.  Leaving  Antrim 
in  1872,  I  came  to  Motherwell.  For  a  time  all  went 
well,  but  after  my  father's  death  I  thought  of  going 
to  America.  I  was  a  decent  chap  then,  getting  certifi- 
cates of  character  from  my  minister  and  employer 
which  testified  to  my  sobriety  and  steadiness.  But  I 
never  got  to  America  yet.  If  I  had  gone,  perhaps  my 
history  would  have  been  better.  At  any  rate,  by  stay- 
ing in  this  country  I  was  introduced  to  the  liquor 
trade;  I  got  to  know  all  the  ins  and  outs  of  the  busi- 

130 


TWO    SCOTCH    PALS 

ness,  for  I  stood  at 's  saloon  bar  in  Motherwell 

for  a  number  of  years.  After  serious  trouble  in  my 
home  life  I  began  to  take  a  'drap  on  the  sly/  Lodgings 
were  uncomfortable,  and  housekeepers  did  not  make  a 
home.  I  took  more  drink  than  was  good  for  me,  and 
when  I  saw  that  the  habit  was  eating  in  on  me,  I  went 
to  my  master  and  said :  Tm  going  to  leave/  The  pub- 
lican would  not  hear  of  such  a  thing;  he  expressed 
himself  as  well  satisfied  with  my  conduct  of  the  busi- 
ness ;  the  drawings  had  increased,  and  he  saw  no  reason 
why,  if  I  wanted  it,  I  should  not  take  a  'drap'  on  the 
quiet,  without  letting  anyone  know  about  it.  Well, 
I  left  him. 

"Starting  in  Mossend  Ironworks,  I  was  knocked 
about  in  lodgings  for  seventeen  years,  having  land- 
ladies good  and  bad  during  that  time.  In  one  house 
the  landlord  would  be  drunk  on  Saturdays;  so  would 
another  lodger;  while,  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  confess 
it,  I  would  be  drunk  six  nights  .in  the  week  and  twice 
on  Sundays. 

"In  1893  I  was  in  the  Royal  Infirmary,  Glasgow, 
through  drink,  upon  two  occasions.  I  went  astray  on  a 
Saturday  night,  and  when  I  came  to  myself  on  Mon- 
day morning,  I  thought  I  was  in  Govan,  but  it  was 
Rutherglen.  My  pockets  were  empty,  although  I  had 
a  big  pay  in  them  that  day.  Three  Bellshill  men  had 
rifled  them  in  my  helplessness.  I  got  up  in  a  dazed  con- 
dition; shivering  with  cold  and  bare-headed,  I 
ploughed  my  way  in  the  dark,  crossed  a  burn,  and 
made  my  way  round  an  unprotected  pit  mouth.  It 
was  a  wonder  I  escaped  death,  for  I  fell  down  the  hill- 
face.  That  meant  a  month  in  the  Royal  Infirmary. 

"I  started  work  again,  and  in  1899  things  were 
going  very  fair,  but  I  fell  back  once  more.  However, 
I  still  commanded  some  respect,  for  I  got  married  at 
this  time.  Unfortunately  the  night  after  my  mar- 
riage I  got  the  sack,  and  I  walked  about  for  seventeen 
weeks.  Not  a  bad  start  in  double  harness !  Before  I 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

was  restored  to  Mossend  works  I  got  a  job  at  carting. 
.But  again  I  was  thrown  out,  having  no  one  to  blame 
but  myself.  Now  this  was  a  trying  period  for  my 
wife.  A  drinking  man  is  a  troublesome  man,  and 
knowing  his  own  weakness,  he  does  not  like  his  wife 
not  to  share  in  his  drinking  ways.  In  this  sort  of  tem- 
per a  man  will  do  and  say  things  that  he  would  not  in 
his  sober  senses,  and  many  a  woman  may  take  a  glass 
just  to  please  her  husband,  just  to  keep  the  peace. 
But  my  wife  was  strong  against  my  drinking,  and 
as  a  consequence  she  had  to  suffer  a  man  who  thought 
nothing  of  what  he  spent  in  this  way.  And  drink 
will  make  a  man  do  shameful  things.  He  will  take  a 
$15  suit  to  the  pawn,  although  he  may  get  no  more 
than  $4  on  it;  or  a  $12  watch,  on  which  he  may  get 
no  more  than  $5.  But  I  had  better  draw  the  curtain 
between  my  doings  and  this  audience. 

"However,  a  turning  point  was  at  last  reached. 
And  this  is  how  it  happened.  In  October,  1909,  when 
at  Mrs.  F.'s  garden,  this  good  lady  said :  'Tom,  you're 
smelling  of  drink.  Now  you  can't  come  here  in  that 
state.'  Well,  I  did  not  go  again  to  her  house  until  after 
the  New  Year,  when  Mrs.  F.  said :  'Ah,  Tom,  you  will 
need  to  go  to  the  Catch-my-Pal.  Mr.  Law  joined  the 
other  Saturday;  you  must  come  too.'  I  was  going 
into  drink  very  heavily.  I  said  to  myself,  'This  is  not 
going  to  do.  I'll  take  Mrs.  F.'s  advice.'  My  good 
friend,  this  Christian  lady,  said  she  would  be  happy 
to  accompany  me.  On  I2th  February,  1910,  I  signed 
the  pledge  in  the  E.U.  Kirk ;  so  also  did  my  wife,  and 
the  two  of  us  have  kept  faithful  to  the  cause  ever 
since. 

"I  would  like  to  say  how  much  the  meetings  mean 
to  me;  and  I  thank  God  for  the  Catch-my-Pal  Total 

Abstinence  Union." 

******* 

"Mr.  Stewart  does  not  mind  saying  that  he  used  to 
be  known  as  'Drunken  Stewart.'  He  is  a  most  en- 

132 


TWO    SCOTCH    PALS 

thusiastic  member  of  the  Union,  and  is  quite  a  brand 
plucked  from  the  burning.  When  he  joined  he  was 
pretty  well  weighted  with  drink,  how  much  he  had 
taken  I  cannot  at  this  date  tell;  but  I  said  to  myself 
as  I  smelt  his  breath :  'That  poor  chap  won't  hold  out 
long/  But  there  he  is — clothed  and  in  his  right  mind, 
a  regular  worshipper  in  the  Established  Church,  a 
credit  to  the  Catch-my-Pal,  and,  I  believe,  a  glory  to 
God." 

I  was  in  Bellshill  in  November,  1912.  Mr.  Law 
presided  at  the  meeting.  At  its  close  he  asked  me  to 
go  down  to  his  house.  I  went  and  saw  his  happy  wife. 
He  and  Tom  Stewart  presented  me  with  a  lovely  gold- 
mounted  umbrella,  as  a  token  of  their  love,  and  as  an 
appreciation  of  what  Catch-my-Pal  had  done  for  them. 

Again,  in  November,  1913,  I  was  in  Bellshill,  and 
stayed  for  the  week  end  with  Mr.  Law.  He  brought 
me  to  Tom  Stewart's  house,  which  is  now  spotlessly 
clean  and  beautifully  furnished,  his  wife  being  a  pic- 
ture of  happiness.  He  told  me  how  his  house  was  a 
"dirty  hut"  four  years  ago.  As  we  went  to  the  meet- 
ing together  Tom  said  to  me,  "Sometimes  when  I  think 
of  what  I  was,  and  of  what  I  now  am,  if  the  thought 
comes  into  my  head  of  going  back  to  the  drink  again, 
I  just  look  up  to  God  and  the  spirit  of  the  men  of 
Londonderry  comes  into  me  and  I  just  pull  myself 
together  and  I  say,  'No  Surrender/  ' 

I  walked  down  the  main  street  of  Bellshill  after 
Divine  Service  on  Sunday  morning  with  Charlie  Law 
on  one  side,  and  Tom  Stewart  on  the  other.  I  think 
there  was  not  a  happier  minister  in  Scotland  that  day, 
as  those  two  men  gave  me  their  testimony ;  and  Stew- 
art acknowledged  he  was  now  God's  child  in  Christ. 
Law  is  now  about  the  busiest  Christian  worker  in 
Bellshill.  As  for  drink,  he  says,  "I  simply  can't  go 
back  to  it.  I  can't  go  back." 

At  the  recent  election  for  the  Parish  Council  Mr. 
Law  was  returned  at  the  top  of  the  poll. 

133 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

AN  IRISH  PAL'S  STORY 

MANY  men  who  have  been  rescued  from  drink  by  this 
movement  are  now  devoting  much  of  their  time  to 
addressing  meetings  and  helping  the  cause  in  other 
ways.  One  of  them,  Mr.  Joseph  Kane,  Belfast,  has 
been  doing  splendid  work  in  that  city  and  in  other 
towns  to  which  he  has  been  invited  to  speak.  His 
is  a  typical  case,  and  I  am  sure  my  readers  would  like 
to  read  his  own  testimony.  He  says  : 

"If  anyone  wants  to  know  what  the  Catch-my-Pal 
movement  can  do  in  the  hand  of  God  for  a  man's 
salvation,  I  am  not  ashamed  to  tell  my  story.  In 
the  year  1909,  in  the  month  of  December,  I  was  as  low 
down  as  I  could  get,  away  from  my  wife  and  family, 
naked,  miserable,  wretched.  In  fact  I  was  not  fit  to 
live,  and  I  was  not  ready  to  die.  If  I  were  to  give 
you  the  history  of  my  life  from  the  first  time  I  took 
drink  you  would  need  to  write  another  book.  But  I'll 
give  you  just  a  smattering  of  what  I  have  come 
through.  It  would  take  another  book  to  tell  all  the 
blessing  I  and  my  wife  and  family  have  had  since  I 
joined  the  Catch-my-Pals. 

"A  few  weeks  before  I  joined  I  got  such  a  feed  of 
drink  in  a  bonded  warehouse  that  I  was  picked  up 
unconscious  in  the  street,  and  taken  to  the  police  office. 
This  was  about  my  sixteenth  turn  in  the  barracks, 
all  through  drink.  The  doctor  ordered  my  removal 
to  the  union  infirmary  that  I  might  be  pumped.  I 
was  taken  on  the  following  day  to  the  police  office 
in  a  patrol  van,  for  they  are  so  careful  they  would  not 

134 


AN   IRISH   PAL'S    STORY 

let  you  walk.  I  was  brought  before  the  magistrate 
who  gave  me  a  sound  castigation,  and  said  he  would 
let  me  off  if  I  took  the  pledge.  Well,  I  had  seven 
'browns/  which  mean  fourteen  cents,  and  as  I  was 
dying  for  a  drink  I  gave  the  promise,  I  took  the  pledge, 
but  I  would  at  the  same  time  have  taken  a  hundred 
pledges  to  get  out  for  another  drink.  Five  minutes 
afterwards  I  had  three  pints  of  porter,  and  then  I  went 
in  for  another  big  bout. 

"Some  days  after  this  I  was  asked  to  go  to  a  meeting 
of  the  Catch-my-Pal  society.  My  experience  is  that 
there  are  quite  a  lot  of  fellows  who  are  only  waiting 
to  be  asked  to  give  up  the  drink.  The  night  I  went 
to  the  meeting  I  had  eight  pints  of  stout.  That  was 
on  the  1 3th  December,  1909,  and  I  thank  God  I  have 
kept  my  vow  since,  and  with  His  help  I  mean  to  keep 
it  till  my  dying  day. 

"Some  people  wag  their  heads  and  say  that  if  a 
man  is  'saved'  there  is  no  need  for  him  to  take  the 
pledge.  I  say  the  same;  but  you  must  remember 
that  if  you  preach  salvation  to  a  man  in  a  drunken 
state  he  will  pay  no  attention.  Get  him  to  be  sober, 
and  then  he  begins  to  look  for  something  better 
than  drink.  He  will  likely  go  to  church  as  I  did,  and 
be  led  to  know  Christ  as  I  was  led.  Before  I  signed 
the  pledge  I  had  no  desire  for  anything  but  drink. 
Now  my  whole  desire  is  to  serve  the  Lord  and  do  what 
I  can  for  Him. 

"Since  I  joined  the  Catch-my-Pals  I  have  ad- 
dressed many  meetings,  especially  in  the  open  air.  I 
believe  in  open  air  work.  I  have  met  some  wonderful 
fellows  at  these  meetings.  Now,  what  appeals  more 
to  a  poor  drunkard  than  one  of  his  own  class  standing 
up  and  giving  testimony,  and  not  keeping  anything 
back?  My  advice  to  pals  who  have  been  lifted  out 
of  the  gutter  is  to  beware  of  becoming  proud  when 
you  are  well  dressed,  because  if  you  become  proud 
you  are  in  a  very  shaky  place.  I  was  speaking  at  an 

135 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

open  air  meeting  one  night,  and  I  noticed  how  the 
chaps  were  watching  every  move  of  the  speakers. 
They  had  criticised  the  previous  speaker  who  was  a 
temperance  orator.  One  fellow  says:  'Oh,  he  is 
making  a  fine  thing  out  of  it.'  Another  says :  'What 
do  you  know  about  the  power  of  drink?'  And  the 
speaker  had  to  admit  that  he  knew  very  little  about  it. 
I  was  the  next  to  mount  the  platform.  Indeed,  to 
all  appearance  I  was  as  great  a  'knob'  as  the  previous 
speaker  as  far  as  clothes  go.  Then  you  should  have 
seen  the  stir  among  the  critics.  I  said :  'My  brothers, 
it  is  not  long  since  the  worst  looking  man  in  this  crowd 
was  a  better  dressed  man  than  I  was.  Some  of  you 
have  at  least  a  coat.  Well  I  could  say  I  had  not  half 
a  coat.  Because  if  I  had  anything  that  they  would 
take  in  the  pawn,  it  would  have  gone  there  and  old 
subs  and  relievers  would  have  taken  its  place/  After 
telling  this  I  got  as  good  a  reception  as  any  man  ever 
got  from  a  crowd.  They  listened  to  me  with  the 
greatest  attention,  and  some  of  them  promised  to 
try  and  do  better. 

"A  chap  who  joined  my  branch  is  doing  well  in 
America  now.  He  sent  a  letter  home  lately  and  in- 
quired how  the  Rev.  Joseph  Kane  was  doing!  That 
was  my  humble  self,  if  you  please,  and  I  suppose  he 
thought  the  title  was  good  enough  for  me ! 

"At  a  meeting  I  was  addressing  a  fellow  kept  on 
asking  about  Home  Rule.  Some  were  for  putting 
him  away  from  the  meeting,  but  I  suggested  that  it 
was  better  that  he  should  be  there  annoying  us  than 
annoying  his  wife  and  children  at  home.  He  was 
quiet  all  the  rest  of  the  meeting,  and  he  took  the  pledge 
later  on.  Another  man  came  to  my  own  home  one 
night.  Of  course  I  wondered  what  he  could  want  with 
me,  as  at  one  period  of  his  life  he  held  a  good  posi- 
tion in  Belfast.  Well,  he  said,  he  had  been  watching 
me  for  a  long  time  and  he  came  to  me  to  take  the 
pledge.  Poor  fellow,  he  was  trying  to  keep  respect- 

136 


AN    IRISH    PAL'S    STORY 

able,  but  found  he  was  almost  beat.  He  took  the 
pledge  and  joined  my  branch,  and,  as  far  as  I  know, 
is  living  a  sober  life. 

"Men  have  come  to  me  and  said:  'I  wish  to  God 
I  could  keep  sober  like  you.'  My  answer  is :  'Do  you 
want  to  live  a  sober  life?  Then  give  yourself  into 
God's  keeping  and  try  Him.  When  He  can  keep  me 
surely  He  can  keep  you  also/  The  worst  of  them 
can  never  get  the  better  of  me  in  giving  excuses  for 
not  giving  up  the  drink,  for  I  was  as  low  as  ever  a 
man  could  be,  and  I  know  all  about  the  drunken  life 
and  the  temptations  the  drinker  has  to  meet.  One 
chap  said  to  me  at  a  meeting : 

'You  say   you  have  experienced  a   great  many 
curious  places  in  your  day.     Well,  you  don't  look  it. 
Did  you  ever  live  in  a  model  lodging  house?' 
'Yes,  and  in  a  thruppenny  bed  to  boot/ 
£  'Were  you  ever  in  jail?' 

'  'Yes,  often,  but  it  was  for  being  drunk  and  dis- 
orderly.' 

'  'Did  you  ever  sleep  with  the  sky  for  a  roof?' 
:  'Yes,  indeed,  I  have.  I  used  to  pay  a  carman  by 
the  week  to  drive  me  home  from  a  certain  pub  every 
night  as  I  was  not  fit  to  walk.  Some  nights  he  arrived 
at  my  door  with  his  car  and  /  was  not  on  it!  I  had 
rolled  off,  and  he  did  not  know  it  as  he  had  too  much 
drink  himself.  One  night  I  was  so  drunk  I  wan- 
dered into  a  place  where  a  new  house  was  being  built. 
I  lay  down  in  the  mud  and  felt  it  so  soft  I  thought 
I  was  in  bed.  When  I  woke  in  the  morning  and 
looked  up  and  saw  the  sky  I  found  I  was  not  in  bed. 
Such  a  sight  as  I  was  after  rolling  about  in  the  mud 
all  night !  Yes,  I  have  slept  with  the  sky  for  a  roof. 
Have  you  any  more  questions?' 

"He  replied  by  giving  me  a  shake  of  the  hand  and 
saying:  'I  believe  you  are  a  genuine  chap.' 

"At  another  meeting  a  poor  fellow  came  along 
drunk.  He  began  to  obstruct  the  meeting.  He  an- 

137 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

noyed  the  speaker  very  much.  When  the  chairman 
asked  me  to  get  up,  I  said  to  the  drunk  fellow:  'I 
want  you  to  keep  quiet  till  I  am  done;  then  I'll  hear 
you/  I  appealed  to  the  people  and  said:  Twenty- 
seven  months  ago  I  was  a  worse  case  than  this  poor 
chap  before  you  to-night/  He  looked  up  at  what 
you  would  call  a  well-dressed  man,  for  since  I  joined 
the  Pals  I  have  got  plenty  of  good  clothes.  He  said : 
'You  are  a  liar!'  He  kept  quiet  till  the  end  of  the 
meeting,  and  then  I  brought  him  and  three  or  four 
others  into  the  hall  where  they  signed  the  pledge. 

"It  is  a  pity  that  people  will  not  subscribe  more  to 
help  work  like  what  the  Pals  are  doing.  If  the  philan- 
thropic men  of  the  country  knew  as  much  as  I  know 
about  men  who  have  been  lifted  up  out  of  the  gutter 
by  the  movement,  they  would  take  a  deeper  interest 

in  our  work." 

******* 

This  man,  Joe  Kane,  is  now  engaged  by  our  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  as  a  Temperance  Missionary.  He 
is  a  man  of  great  natural  ability  and  considerable  or- 
atorical power.  He  has  been  the  means  of  rescuing 
great  numbers  of  the  "down-and-outs"  all  over  the 
north  of  Ireland,  and  in  some  places  in  Scotland. 

If  some  American  millionaire  would  supply  us  with 
the  necessary  funds  we  could  put  several  men  like 
Kane  in  the  field  to  go  out  to  appeal,  as  no  ministers 
could,  to  the  drunkards  to  come  into  the  sober  life. 
May  I  hope  that  some  good  American  heart  may  be 
touched  by  the  story  in  this  book,  and  be  led  to  con- 
secrate some  money  to  the  saving  of  the  drunkards, 
many,  many  of  whom  are  longing  to  be  saved  from 
drink  if  there  was  only  someone  to  come  and  save 
them? 


138 


CHAPTER   XXVII 
WHY  DID  THE  CHILD  FALL  DOWN  THE  STAIRS  ? 

SUPERFICIAL  critics  and  unsympathetic  observers  of 
this  movement  have  been  pointing  their  fingers  of 
scorn  at  it  because  many  of  those  who  have  signed  the 
Catch-my-Pal  pledge  have  not  been  faithful  to  it. 
He  would  be  a  silly  reformer  who  expected  all  per- 
sons who  rally  to  his  standard  to  be  true  and  faithful. 

On  the  night  before  the  Crucifixion  of  our  Lord 
eleven  men  took  a  solemn  pledge.  Peter  said :  "Even 
if  I  must  die  with  Thee  yet  I  will  not  deny  Thee." 
This  was  a  pledge.  It  was  taken  by  the  eleven. 
"Likewise  also  said  all  the  disciples."  How  long  did 
they  keep  it?  Not  for  a  single  night.  But  perhaps 
Peter  did  not  know  what  he  said,  or  wist  not  what  to 
say,  as  when  he  was  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration. 
In  any  case,  Peter  was  the  arch-pledge-taker  and  he 
became  the  arch-pledge-breaker.  Peter  followed  afar 
off.  All  the  disciples  forsook  Him  and  fled.  Peter 
cursed  and  swore  that  he  did  not  know  Jesus.  What 
a  horrible  pit  Peter  digged  for  himself  that  early 
morning  in  the  courtyard!  He  was  plunging  into  it 
as  Jesus  passed  out  between  the  soldiers. 

How  did  Jesus  treat  the  pledge-breaker?  Not  as 
cynical  and  superior  persons  treat  those  who  break 
the  temperance  pledge.  "The  Lord  turned  and  looked 
upon  Peter."  What  kind  of  a  look  was  that?  Was  it 
a  look  of  scorn,  or  of  contempt,  or  of  despair?  Was 
it  a  look  that  made  Peter  feel  the  Lord  would  trample 
upon  him  when  he  was  down?  Or  was  it  a  look  of 
disappointed  love,  a  look  that  made  Peter  hear  as 
well  as  see;  that  made  him  hear  the  heart  that  looked 

139 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

through  those  Divine  eyes?  Did  not  Peter  hear  that 
heart  speak  through  a  look,  as  there  was  no  opportu- 
nity for  it  to  express  itself  to  him  in  speech?  And 
what  did  Peter  hear  that  heart  say  as  the  Eyes  turned 
on  him?  Was  it  not  something  like  this?  "Ah,  Si- 
mon, thou  art  not  the  Rock  Man  yet.  Satan  still  de- 
sires to  have  thee.  Thou  art  being  sifted  this  morning 
as  wheat.  I  know  what  thou  hast  said  about  Me.  I 
have  prayed  the  Father  for  thee.  I  do  not  despair  of 
thee.  Circumstances  are  hard.  I'll  have  thee  back  yet. 
Stand  up,  Simon.  Try  again !  I  shall  see  thee  yet  as 
the  Man  of  Rock  at  My  side." 

And  "Peter  went  out  and  wept  bitterly."  Why? 
Because  not  even  his  cursing  and  swearing  could  stem 
the  love  of  Jesus,  and  because  he  felt  that  long-suffer- 
ing love  was  giving  him  another  chance.  Long-suffer- 
ing led  him  to  repentance.  The  magic  of  another 
chance  distilled  him  into  tears.  He  came  up  out  of  the 
horrible  pit  only  to  find  himself  in  the  maelstrom  of 
Divine  love.  That  love  that  hoped  all  things  washed 
him  and  cleansed  him,  revived  him,  converted  him, 
and  changed  him  from  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  who  de- 
nied his  Lord,  into  the  Rock  Man  Peter,  who  turned 
and  looked  upon  Jesus  with  a  look  of  such  intense 
yearning  as  perhaps  Jesus  never  saw  in  the  face  of  any 
other  man.  As  their  eyes  met  that  day  by  the  lake 
side  Peter  did  not  need  to  ask  if  Jesus  loved  him,  but 
his  heart  must  have  well-nigh  burst  as  he  tried  to  say : 
"Yea,  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things;  Thou  knowest 
that  /  love  Thee." 

If  there  is  life  in  a  look  at  the  Crucified  One,  there 
is  also  life  in  the  look  of  the  Crucified  One.  Oh,  that 
all  who  profess  to  follow  in  His  steps  along  life's  ways 
brought  His  look  of  sympathy,  hope  and  long-suffer- 
ing, with  them !  How  our  fallen  brothers  and  sisters 
would  leap  up  to  God  if  they  could  only  read  in  our 
eyes  that  there  was  hope  for  them  yet! 

"Why  did  my  child  fall  down  the  stairs?"  Will 

140 


WHY    DID    THE    CHILD    FALL? 

you,  if  you  are  a  parent,  ask  yourself  this  question? 
What  answer  do  you  give  to  it  ?  Think  for  a  moment. 
"Why  did  my  child  fall  down  the  stairs?"  Because 
he  was  up.  If  he  had  not  been  up,  he  could  not  have 
fallen  down.  How  often  shall  I  run  to  lift  up  my 
fallen  child?  Just  as  often  as  he  falls.  I  put  my 
hand  under  his  chin.  I  become  the  lifter  up  of  his 
head.  I  tell  him  he  must  be  more  careful,  and  I  give 
him  advice ;  but  with  all  my  advice  and  caution  I  mix 
sympathy  and  watchfulness  and  long-suffering,  until 
I  see  that  my  child's  head  has  become  steady,  and  his 
feet  and  ankle  bones  have  received  enough  strength 
to  enable  him  to  go  up  the  stairs  as  surely  as  myself. 
I  taught  him  to  say : 

"If   at   first   you   don't   succeed, 
Try,  try,  try  again." 

and  I  let  him  see  that  I  had  patience  with  him  while 
he  tried. 

Why  do  many  of  those  who  sign  the  pledge  of  this 
and  other  similar  movements  fall  ?  Just  because  they 
were  up.  If  they  had  lain  in  the  gutter  all  the  time 
the  cynic  would  have  passed  no  remark  about  them 
but  would  simply  have  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 
But  when  they  take  the  pledge  and  rise  a  little  they 
become  the  curiosity  of  their  neighbourhood.  The 
miserable  cynic  did  nothing  to  lift  them  up  and  does 
nothing  to  keep  them  up,  but  is  ever  ready  like  a  car- 
rion fly  to  pounce  upon  them  when  they  fall. 

The  poor  inebriate  falls  because  he  was  like  a  child 
on  the  stairs.  His  will  power  is  almost  gone.  His 
very  elevation  from  the  gutter  for  even  a  short  time 
snakes  him  giddy.  He  has  not  yet  learned  what  that 
meaneth:  "Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take 
heed  lest  he  fall."  He  will  probably  fall  again  and 
again.  But  it  is  for  the  Christian  community  about 
him  to  be  a  mother  to  him  in  his  weakness;  to  run 
and  lift  him  again  and  again,  and  put  him  again  and 

141 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

again  on  the  first  step  of  life's  stairs  and  encourage 
him  from  step  to  step  and  from  strength  to  strength, 
till  that  son  of  the  gutter  begins  to  feel  within  himself 
that  he  is  of  such  stuff  as  men  are  made  of  by  the 
Grace  of  God  extended  to  them  by  the  hand  of  human 
sympathy  and  long-suffering.  Then  he  will  mount  up 
with  steady  steps  and  not  cease  mounting  till  he  goes 
in  among  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

Our  Lord  said  to  the  apostles,  "If  thy  brother  tres- 
pass against  thee  rebuke  him;  and  if  he  repent  forgive 
him.  And  if  he  trespass  against  thee  seven  times  in 
a  day,  and  seven  times  in  a  day  turn  again  to  thee  say- 
ing, I  repent ;  thou  shalt  forgive  him."  And  what  did 
the  apostles  say?  "Lord,  Increase  Our  Faith."  In- 
crease our  faith  in  the  goodness  of  God,  Who  would 
forgive  so  often;  and  increase  our  faith  in  our  falling 
fellows,  that  we  may  have  hope  that  the  worst  of 
them  may  be  finally  saved  even  after  uncountable  falls. 

Christianity  is  not  dead  though  "all  the  disciples 
forsook  Him  and  fled."  They  all  came  back,  and 
eleven  cowards  became  the  finest  team  that  ever  went 
out  to  do  battle  with  the  legions  of  darkness.  One 
of  the  most  hopeful  signs  of  the  permanency  of  this 
movement  is  the  readiness  with  which  those  who  break 
the  pledge  come  back  to  renew  it,  and  the  spirit  of 
hopefulness  that  broods  over  the  most  reckless  cases, 
nursing  them  gradually  back  to  self-reliance  through 
the  love  of  God  and  human  brotherhood.  And  many 
of  the  most  valiant  workers  for  God  and  Home  and 
Country  in  the  ranks  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  to-day  are 
men  and  women  who  had  to  be  lifted  up  again  and 
again  before  they  found  strength  to  stand  on  their 
feet.  While  they  make  progress  on  life's  highway  the 
movement  need  not  fear  the  hissing  of  the  cynic  who 
stands  behind  the  hedge.  Notorious  drunkards  and 
harlots  who,  in  God's  great  mercy,  have  been  saved 
by  the  Catch-my-Pal  crusade,  will  go  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  before  the  cynic. 

142 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  BAR:  BEFORE  WHOSE  BAR 
DOES  HE  STAND? 

ONE  characteristic  of  this  movement  is  that  its  heralds 
have  not  tried  to  make  capital  for  temperance  reform 
by  hammering  the  heads  of  the  saloon-keepers.  We 
have  reason  to  believe  there  are  "black  sheep  in  every 
flock."  There  are  black  sheep  in  the  ministry.  We 
find  them  among  grocers,  drapers,  watchmakers,  bak- 
ers, plumbers,  and  behind  every  kind  of  counter  and  in 
every  sort  of  office.  There  are  many  persons  engaged 
in  the  drink  trade  who  really  do  not  care  how  many 
lives  are  lost  as  long  as  they  make  money.  But  there 
are  many  persons  engaged  in  the  trade  who  are  decent, 
respectable  and  honest,  and  who  conduct  the  business 
in  as  decent,  respectable,  and  honest  a  manner  as  it 
is  possible  for  such  a  business  to  be  conducted.  I 
have  had  as  much  to  do  with  saloon  men  in  the  course 
of  my  ministry  as  perhaps  any  other  man  in  Ireland 
at  any  rate.  I  have  often  been  surprised  at  the 
thoughts  I  have  heard  expressed  by  those  in  the  trade. 
I  have  heard  a  dying  saloon-keeper  say  to  me:  "If 
I  had  to  begin  my  life  over  again  I  would  have  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  business."  He  asked  me  to 
use  my  influence  to  keep  young  men  from  going  into 
it,  and  I  am  grateful  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  have  been 
instrumental  in  turning  some  from  taking  that  black 
path  to  fortune. 

I  think  I  can  truthfully  say  that  I  never  attacked 
saloon-keepers  from  the  pulpit.  I  did  not  think  it 
was  a  manly  thing  to  attack  a  man  from  the  pulpit 

143 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

when  he  had  no  right  to  reply  from  the  pew.  I  con- 
sidered it  a  more  manly  part  to  go  into  a  man's  own 
house  or  bar,  and  to  try  to  square  him  up  there.  We 
could  give  one  another  tit  for  tat  there,  while  if  I  at- 
tacked him  from  the  pulpit  it  was  all  tit  and  no  tat. 
But  I  considered  it  to  be  my  duty  in  the  pulpit  to  de- 
scribe in  the  most  vivid  and  lurid  terms  the  evil  re- 
sults of  drink  as  I  had  seen  them  in  the  human  body, 
and  in  the  human  soul,  in  family  and  in  national  his- 
tory. I  preached  in  such  terms  very  often,  and  I  called 
my  discourses  "squirming  sermons."  I  called  to  see 
a  wine-merchant  one  Monday  after  a  squirming  ser- 
mon. He  said  to  me  in  his  bar : 

"That  was  a  good  sermon  you  gave  us  yesterday." 
I  thought  he  was  making  fun  of  me,  and  I  said : 

"I  am  surprised  to  hear  you  say  that." 

"You  ought  to  publish  that  sermon,"  he  continued. 

"Why,  what  do  you  mean?"  I  asked. 

"Just  what  I  say.  I  think  you  ought  to  publish 
that  sermon.  It  would  do  a  great  deal  of  good.  You 
seem  to  know  much  about  the  evils  of  drink,  but  you 
do  not  know  as  much  as  I  know ;  and  I  have  come  to 
see  that  this  is  no  business  for  a  Christian  man  to  be 
engaged  in."  That  merchant  did  not  die  in  the  busi- 
ness. 

I  talked  again  and  again  privately  with  another 
merchant  about  his  giving  up  the  business.  For  a 
long  time  I  did  not  think  my  words  were  having  any 
effect.  One  day  I  met  him  at  an  auction,  and  he 
brought  me  to  one  side  and  said :  "I  want  to  tell  you 
something  that  will  please  you."  He  had  such  a  look 
of  gladness  in  his  eyes  I  was  surprised.  But  I  was 
more  surprised  when  he  told  me  the  cause  of  his  glad- 
ness. As  if  he  were  throwing  off  a  great  weight  that 
had  been  crushing  him  down  he  said  with  a  sigh  of 
relief :  "I  have  got  rid  of  the  saloon." 

A  young  man  came  from  a  farm  and  opened  a  sa- 
loon. He  married  a  nice  country  girl.  Neither  of 

144 


THE    MAN    BEHIND    THE    BAR 

them  seemed  comfortable  in  the  bar.  He  became  sud- 
denly ill,  and  I  was  requested  to  visit  him.  I  visited 
him  several  times  before  his  death.  I  never  saw  more 
affection  between  a  husband  and  wife  than  I  wit- 
nessed at  that  death  bedside.  He  told  me  he  did  not 
know  what  he  was  doing,  else  he  would  never  have 
entered  the  business,  and  was  no  sooner  in  it  than 
he  wished  to  be  out  of  it,  but  did  not  see  clearly  how 
to  give  it  up.  "At  any  rate,"  he  said,  "my  heart 
was  not  in  it."  Seldom  in  the  course  of  my  ministry 
have  I  seen  greater  resignation  in  the  presence  of  death 
than  I  saw  in  that  young  man's  face.  I  was  astonished 
to  find  that  some  professing  Christians  refused  to  at- 
tend his  funeral  because  he  was  a  saloon-keeper !  I  do 
not  say  anything  about  the  Christianity  of  those  pro- 
fessors. It  may  have  been  only  very  narrow.  It  may 
have  been  worse.  God's  Bar  is  for  the  saloon-man, 
for  them,  and  for  me.  We  must  all  appear  there. 
And  who  can  stand  when  He  appeareth  on  the  Great 
White  Throne  ? 

I  went  one  Saturday  night  to  visit  a  wine-merchant 
who  never  came  to  public  worship.  He  had  not  been 
in  his  family  pew  for  years.  I  asked  him  to  come  to 
church.  He  said  he  could  not  come.  I  asked  what 
reason  he  had  for  staying  away.  He  became  a  little 
annoyed  at  my  persistency.  But  I  was  bent  on  making 
some  inroad  to  his  heart,  and  at  last  he  said  he  kept 
a  yard ;  that  many  country  people  stabled  their  horses 
with  him;  that  he  had  several  head  of  cattle  to  be 
driven  out  to  grass;  and  that  his  time  was  so  much 
taken  up  with  horses  and  cattle  he  had  no  time  for 
church.  I  looked  at  him  earnestly  and  said:  "Sup- 
posing you  dropped  dead  behind  your  counter  some 
Saturday  night  who  would  look  after  the  horses  and 
cattle?  You  II  have  to  take  time  to  die/'  His  feeling 
of  annoyance  passed  away  at  once.  He  became  gentle 
as  a  lamb,  while  he  looked  intently  into  my  eyes  and 
said :  "I  never  thought  of  that  before." 

145 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

To  my  surprise  and  the  surprise  of  many  others,  he 
was  in  the  church  twice  the  next  day!  He  continued 
to  attend  twice  every  Sunday  for  many  months.  He 
was  absent  one  Sunday,  but  continued  his  attendance 
again  after  a  visit  of  enquiry  from  me.  I  preached 
at  a  morning  service  from  the  text,  "What  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul?"  That  man  was  in  his  pew  and  he 
never  took  his  eyes  off  me  while  I  was  preaching. 
When  going  along  the  street  after  the  service  he  said 
to  another  member  of  my  congregation:  "I  believe 
Mr.  Patterson  wrote  that  sermon  for  me."  It  so  hap- 
pened that  he  was  much  in  my  thoughts  as  I  was  pre- 
paring it.  I  believe  it  was  not  preached  to  him  in 
vain.  On  the  Saturday  night  I  received  a  message  to 
go  down  to  his  house,  as  he  had  dropped  dead  behind 
his  counter! 

At  his  funeral  a  labouring  man  said  to  me:  "He 
was  a  better  man  than  some  people  thought.  He  had 
a  kindly  heart.  I  used  to  buy  some  groceries  and 
provisions  from  him,  but  had  not  been  going  to  him 
for  some  time.  He  asked  me  one  day  as  I  was  passing, 
why  I  passed  his  shop  now.  I  am  not  a  drinker  and  he 
knew  I  was  not.  He  did  not  want  me  in  for  drink. 
I  said  that  money  was  hard  to  get  and  that  sometimes 
I  had  none  to  pay  for  things  I  needed.  'Well/  he 
said,  'don't  bother  about  the  paying.  The  children 
must  get  bread.  Don't  let  them  want.  Come  in  for 
a  bag  of  flour  whenever  you  like,  and  just  pay  me 
when  it  suits  yourself.'  And,"  added  the  labouring 
man,  "that's  more  than  some  of  the  grocers  up  the 
town  would  have  said." 

I  have  been  at  several  saloon-keepers'  deathbeds, 
and  have  heard  their  dying  testimonies  to  the  effect 
that  their  hearts  were  not  in  the  business  at  all,  and 
that  they  Would  have  liked  to  have  got  out  of  it  if 
they  had  seen  their  way  how.  After  the  Catch-my- 
Pal  movement  started  in  Armagh  I  went  to  visit  a  wine 

146 


THE    MAN    BEHIND    THE    BAR 

merchant  who  was  dying.  He  congratulated  me  on 
the  success  it  was  having  in  gathering  up  the  drinkers 
and  said :  "You  have  got  the  stick  by  the  right  end 
this  time:'  I  know  persons  now  in  the  trade  who 
have  told  me  they  will  get  out  of  it  as  soon  as  they 
can.  One  of  them  told  me  recently  that  he  consid- 
ered there  could  be  no  true  prosperity  in  such  a  trade, 
that  it  was  a  dirty  business  from  top  to  bottom,  bring- 
ing men  into  contact  with  all  that  was  filthy  in  society ; 
and  making  them  filthier  still.  He  is  setting  about  de- 
veloping a  new  way  of  making  a  livelihood  for  the 
rest  of  his  days. 

It  may  be  said  that  these  men  should  come  out  of  the 
business  at  once  if  they  see  it  to  be  an  evil  thing. 
Some  of  them  have  done  so.  Many  of  them  have  not 
done  so.  But  we  must  look  for  a  greater  manifestation 
of  self-sacrifice  and  spiritual  abandon  on  the  part  of 
Christians  generally  before  we  can  expect  much 
moral  heroism  from  those  who  are  supposed  by  many 
Christians  to  have  no  Christianity  at  all. 

While  I  have  told  in  another  chapter  what  I  think 
of  those  saloon-keepers  who  have  tried  to  bring  down 
to  the  gutter  again  men  and  women  who  have  taken 
the  Catch-my-Pal  pledge,  I  desire  to  state  most  em- 
phatically that  I  don't  put  all  saloon-keepers  in  the 
same  box,  and  that  I  consider  temperance  reformers 
who  are  continually  denouncing  the  saloon-keepers  are 
on  the  wrong  tack.  I  have  no  sympathy  whatever 
with  the  business,  but  I  confess  I  have  much  sym- 
pathy with  many  of  those  engaged  in  it.  If  I  call  every 
saloon  a  human  slaughter-house  I  do  not  call  every 
saloon-keeper  a  murderer.  I  am  not  prepared  to  stand 
at  a  saloon  door  and  pass  my  judgment  on  the  person 
behind  the  bar  as  a  child  of  the  Devil.  If  I  had  been 
brought  up  as  a  saloon-keeper's  son,  or  had  been  ap- 
prenticed to  the  trade  when  I  really  did  not  know 
what  I  was  being  apprenticed  to,  and  to-day  was  stand- 
ing behind  a  bar,  having  conscientious  scruples  as  to 

147 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

the  way  I  was  making  my  money,  I  should  not  like  to 
think  that  self-righteous  people  were  passing  by  my 
door  and  pointing  with  the  finger  of  contempt  at  me 
while  they  said:  "That  is  a  child  of  the  Devil  in 
there:  he  is  going  straight  to  hell."  With  my  con- 
scientious scruples  I  might  be  nearer  the  Kingdom  of 
God  while  standing  behind  the  bar  than  the  man  with 
a  proud  spirit  passing  my  door  to  a  prayer-meeting, 
for  "the  proud  He  knoweth  afar  off."  We  do  not 
know  what  convictions  God  may  be  planting  in  the  gar- 
den of  even  a  saloon-man's  soul.  I  will  therefore 
try  to  look  at  him  as  through  God's  eyes  while  I  say : 

"The  love  of  God  is  broader 

Than   the  measure  of  man's  mind, 
And  the  heart  of  the  Eternal 
Is  most  wonderfully  kind." 

If  a  saloon-keeper  has  a  sincere  desire  to  get  out  of 
the  business  and  does  not  see  his  way  how,  neverthe- 
less he  does  well  to  have  that  desire  in  his  heart.  Let 
us  not  break  the  bruised  reed  or  quench  the  smoking 
flax.  God  in  Jesus  Christ  never  overlooks  the  faintest 
glimmer  of  a  desire  after  a  better  life  in  the  bosom 
of  the  worst  of  His  fallen  children.  That  desire  is 
not  of  the  devil's  planting. 

The  man  behind  the  bar  of  the  saloon  I  leave  before 
the  bar  of  God. 

I  often  wonder  how  Jesus  captivated  the  heart  of 
her  out  of  whom  He  cast  seven  devils.  He  did  not 
flout  her  sin  in  her  face.  This  at  any  rate  is  sure. 
Perhaps  if  some  of  those  engaged  in  the  drink  trade 
were  approached  in  the  spirit  in  which  Jesus  must 
have  approached  the  woman,  they  would  be  so  capti- 
vated as  to  come  out  of  the  business  and  empty  their 
barrels  in  the  gutter  into  which  they  formerly  sent 
their  customers,  and  their  doing  so  would  be  as  the 
pouring  out  of  ointment  on  the  head  of  Him  Who 
thus,  by  human  means,  won  them  to  His  service. 

148 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

ATTRACTIONS,  COUNTER-ATTRACTIONS  AND 
COUNTER-INFLUENCES 

AFTER  much  experience  in  the  Catch-my-Pal  crusade 
I  am  more  and  more  convinced  that  many  of  the  per- 
sons who  frequent  the  saloons  do  so,  not  so  much 
because  they  love  drink  as  because  they  love  the  fel- 
lowship they  find  in  drink.  People  will  club  together. 
The  craving  for  fellowsmp  must  vent  itself.  We  must 
not  assume  that  that  craving  craves  for  a  debauched 
fellowship.  The  saloons  have  been  almost  the  only 
places  where  it  has  been  able  to  gratify  itself;  and 
the  gratification  of  fellowship  has  thus  been  associ- 
ated with  the  gratification  of  drink. 

The  saloons  are  usually  most  attractive.  They  are 
well  lighted,  gaudily  decorated,  and  so  arranged  that 
friends  can  sit  together  as  long  as  they  please,  free 
from  the  feeling  of  being  in  the  way  after  they  have 
had  their  drink.  The  very  arrangement  of  the  bottles 
in  the  saloons  has  an  attraction  for  many  of  those 
who  frequent  them.  Music  and  other  attractions  are 
being  provided  more  lavishly,  and  altogether  the  sa- 
loons are  being  so  equipped  that  men  who  find  but  lit- 
tle comfort  around  their  own  huddled  firesides  find  it 
pleasant  to  sit  in  the  saloon  lounge. 

If  better  houses  were  provided  for  the  toilers  of  the 
country  there  would  be  less  patronage  given  by  them 
to  the  saloon.  The  Christian  conscience  is  beginning 
to  manifest  itself  in  such  a  manner  as  to  step  in  to 
the  great  manufacturer's  office,  and  to  say :  "The  time 
has  come  when  you  must  give  less  to  public  subscrip- 

149 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

tion  lists  and  give  more  to  the  providing  of  Christian 
accommodation  to  those  who  help  you  to  make  your 
money.  They  are  not  'hands' ;  they  are  SOULS;  and 
it  must  be  seen  that  they  have  homes  in  which  the 
soul  and  the  soul's  temple  shall  have  a  chance." 

But  while  better  housing  will  greatly  help  in  solving 
the  drink  problem,  and  while  the  true  counter-attrac- 
tion to  the  saloon  is  the  well-ordered  and  well-ap- 
pointed home,  the  craving  for  fellowship  must  have 
some  public  recognition.  If  we  swoop  down  upon  a 
town  in  a  well  organised  attack  of  Good  Samaritan- 
ship,  and  gather  up  nearly  all  the  drinkers  into  a  total 
abstinence  brotherhood,  as  has  been  done  in  many 
places,  especially  in  Ireland,  in  the  course  of  the  Catch- 
my-Pal  campaign,  we  must  sy  that  this  brotherhood 
is  supplied  with  the  means  oT  gratifying  itself  along 
the  lines  of  brotherhood.  It  is,  therefore,  absolutely 
necessary  to  establish  counter-attractions  to  the  sa- 
loons. 

Unfortunately  the  counter-attractions  usually  pro- 
vided do  not  attract.  In  the  large  cities  the  rapid 
development  of  well  appointed  refreshment  rooms 
is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  our  modern  social  life. 
But  in  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  we  are  too  fa- 
miliar with  the  temperance  hotel  or  coffee  shop  which 
savours  of  oil-cloth,  onions  and  petroleum.  The  sa- 
loon gives  the  impression  that  no  expense  has  been 
spared  to  make  it  attractive.  The  temperance  cafe 
often  gives  the  impression  that  every  expense  has  been 
saved  to  make  it  unattractive.  The  Christian  commu- 
nity must  provide  something  better  than  this  if  men 
and  women  are  to  be  kept  out  of  the  saloons. 

Temperance  saloons  should  have  public  bars  with 
all  the  attractiveness  of  daintily  and  artistically  ar- 
ranged bottles.  They  should  be  illuminated  and  deco- 
rated in  the  very  best  style.  There  should  be  read- 
ing rooms,  recreation  rooms,  and,  if  necessary,  smok- 
ing rooms,  and  every  department  should  be  run  in 

150 


ATTRACTIONS 

the  strictest  cleanliness.  Into  these  saloons  clergy  and 
churchwardens,  ministers  and  elders,  Sabbath  school 
superintendents  and  teachers,  communicants  and  all 
professing  Christians  could  go  without  suspicion. 

Respectable  and  self-respecting  men  and  women  will 
be  ashamed  to  be  seen  going  into  the  bars  while  the 
attractive  total  abstinence  saloon  is  in  the  street,  for 
there  will  no  more  be  heard  as  an  excuse  for  going 
into  the  bar:  "Well,  you  see  I  have  nowhere  else  to 
go."  No  man  likes  to  be  considered  fond  of  drink. 
If  the  total  abstinence  saloon  is  in  the  street  it  will 
be  considered  that  the  man  who  goes  into  the  bar  is 
fond  of  drink  and  goes  there  for  IT.  Public  opinion 
begins  to  make  itself  felt  along  the  footpath. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  develop  counter-at- 
tractions under  the  atispices  of  the  Catch-my-Pal 
movement  in  many  places  in  Ireland,  and  in  some 
places  in  England  and  Scotland,  but  lack  of  funds 
prevents  it  from  being  carried  out  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. But  what  has  been  done  has  proved,  if  proof 
were  necessary,  that  it  is  by  means  of  the  Total  Ab- 
stinence Saloon  or  Club  that  the  best  results  may  be 
procured  and  secured.  And  here  I  may  be  permitted 
to  give  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Justice  Boyd,  in  his  ad- 
dress to  the  Grand  Jurors  of  County  Antrim  at  the 
Assizes  in  March,  1911.  He  said:  "He  could  con- 
gratulate them  on  one  fact,  the  large  reduction  in  the 
number  of  people  who  had  been  convicted  of  drunken- 
ness in  the  county.  He  was  glad  that  that  crime,  for 
he  called  it  a  crime,  was  disappearing.  Within  the  last 
three  years  the  drunkenness  returns  had  shown  a  de- 
crease of  over  a  thousand  cases.  Last  year  about 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  less  cases  of  drunken- 
ness were  reported  by  the  police  than  in  the  year  be- 
fore. He  was  sure  they  were  all  considerably  indebted 
to  the  efforts  that  had  been  made  by  the  gentleman 
who  had  originated  that  good  Catch-my-Pal  move- 
ment in  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  get 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

people  to  give  up  drink,  and  to  keep  their  neighbours 
from  the  evils  of  drunkenness.  They  had  all  reasons 
to  be  thankful  to  that  gentleman  who  had  been  led 
to  take  the  course  he  had  done,  and  who  had  been  so 
successful  in  his  efforts.  Another  thing  which  he 
thought  was  a  matter  of  congratulation  resulting  from 
that  movement  was  the  establishment  of  working- 
men's  clubs  in  several  places,  where  reasonable  litera- 
ture and  amusements  were  provided  for  those  who 
wished  to  frequent  them.  They  were  considerably 
used,  and  were  found  of  inestimable  advantage  in  the 
country.  He  hoped  they  would  progress  still  further 
and  that  the  effect  of  the  movement  would  be  a  de- 
crease of  crime,  a  great  quantity  of  which  proceeded 
from  intemperance." 

At  the  Meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Irish  Presbyterian  Church  in  1911,  Dr.  Macmillan 
was  able  to  say  in  his  Annual  Temperance  Report : 
"There  never  was  such  a  full  and  jubilant  note  on  the 
subject  of  counter-attractions.  In  no  less  than  thirty 
Presbyterial  centres  (there  are  thirty-seven  Presby- 
teries in  the  Church)  are  counter-attractions  reported 
as  existing.  At  no  time  has  the  subject  engaged  so 
much  the  attention  of  practical  men  and  women.  Read- 
ing-rooms have  come  into  existence  all  over  the  coun- 
try; and  it  is  pleasant  to  see  numbers  of  working  men 
— young  and  old — consulting  the  papers,  engaging  in 
conversation,  interested  in  bagatelle,  draughts,  or  dom- 
inoes; and  such  places  of  rendezvous  are  to  be  found 
not  only  in  important  towns,  but  also  in  villages  and 
rural  districts." 

Catch-my-Pal  halls  are  being  erected  in  many  cen- 
tres throughout  the  country  for  public  and  other  meet- 
ings of  the  Union.  These,  while  affording  opportu- 
nities for  the  members  to  associate  with  one  another, 
are,  at  the  same  time,  helping  to  give  permanency  to 
the  cause. 

Wherever  I  have  gone  on  this  crusade  I  have  advo- 

152 


ATTRACTIONS 

cated  the  establishment  of  counter-attractions,  and 
I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  not  only  in  Ireland, 
but  also  in  other  countries,  Catch-my-Pal  reading- 
rooms  and  clubs  have  been  instituted  in  centres  so  far 
apart  as  Bedford,  Ventnor,  Stratford-on-Avon,  Inver- 
ness, and  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

Anything  which  gives  a  man  a  healthy  interest  in 
matters  outside  his  own  narrow  groove  in  life  has  an 
uplifting  influence  which  draws  him  away  from  the 
sordid  associations  of  the  saloon.  Just  now  there  is 
no  institution  exercising  a  greater  counter-influence 
on  the  drinker  than  the  picture  palace.  We  must  not 
overlook  the  various  ways  besides  education  by  which 
science  is  helping  to  solve  the  drink  problem.  The 
kinematograph,  the  motor  car,  the  telephone,  and  the 
typewriter  are  all  at  work  in  solving  the  problem. 

At  the  picture  palace  the  meanest  villager  can  view 
mankind  from  China  to  Peru,  and  gain  as  much  knowl- 
edge of  life  in  other  countries  in  an  hour  as  his  father 
would  have  been  unable  to  gather  in  a  week  from 
books.  He  can  find  cleaner  amusement  with  his  eyes 
on  the  screen  than  he  can  find  with  his  ears  at  a 
bar.  He  can  go  home  to  bed  from  a  kinematograph 
show  feeling  that  there  are  so  many  things  of  interest 
in  the  world  there  is  no  need  for  him,  a  man  with  a 
mind,  to  let  his  brains  be  stolen  by  whisky.  He  feels 
better  in  the  morning  after  he  has  seen  a  little  of  this 
world  on  a  screen,  than  in  the  morning  after  he  has 
seen  two  moons  at  the  saloon  door.  He  can  bring 
his  wife  and  children  with  him  to  the  panopticon,  and 
go  home  feeling  that  he  has  done  his  part  in  giving 
them  a  happy  hour,  and  he  knows  how  much  better  it 
was  to  have  done  that  than  to  have  spent  all  his  money 
on  himself  before  going  back  to  send  his  wife  and 
children  to  a  night  in  hell.  The  kinematograph  is  one 
of  God's  instruments  for  drawing  the  life  blood  of 
the  drink  trade. 

The  motor  car  and  all  kinds  of  motor  vehicles  are 

153 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

helping  to  solve  the  problem,  for  people  know  that 
it  will  not  do,  in  these  days  of  swift  traffic,  to  be  dan- 
dering  about  the  streets  half  dazed  with  drink.  In 
the  days  of  the  horse  the  policeman  did  not  pay  so 
much  attention  to  the  man  "half  seas  over"  as  he  does 
to-day.  Traffic  cannot  wait  on  the  drinker  now. 

The  telephone  keeps  the  merchant  on  the  alert  in  his 
office.  He  used  to  meet  his  customer  and  transact 
his  business  by  personal  dealing.  He  took  time  over 
it.  He  wasted  time  over  it.  He  drank  over  it,  as  the 
one  he  was  doing  business  with  was  in  no  greater 
hurry  than  himself.  They  could  not  meet  and  part 
again  without  some  good  fellowship,  and  so  they  had 
their  glass  together.  But  now  the  telephone  inter- 
venes. Personal  dealing  is  almost  gone.  Business  is 
now  business.  It  will  not  do  for  a  merchant  to  be 
half  asleep  in  his  office  to-day.  A  fortune  may  depend 
on  a  telephone  call.  He  must  be  wide  awake.  A  man 
was  speaking  into  a  telephone  one  day  and  could  not 
understand  what  the  person  at  the  other  end  was  say- 
ing. He  became  irritated  and  said : 

"Is  a  blithering  idiot  talking  into  this  telephone?" 

"Not  at  this  end/'  was  the  response.  He  under- 
stood that  time!  It  will  not  pay  to  be  considered 
a  "blithering  idiot"  in  an  up-to-date  business  house 
to-day,  and  the  telephone  has  done  more  to  sharpen 
men's  wits  at  business,  and  to  keep  drink  away  from 
business  hours,  than  any  other  instrument  or  influence 
in  the  commercial  world. 

The  typewriter  is  doing  its  share.  The  typist  has 
to  be  considered.  No  man  will  demean  himself  be- 
fore his  typist  by  being  so  much  under  the  influence 
of  drink  that  he  cannot  dictate  a  business  letter. 

These  are  some  of  the  influences  which  are  at  work 
in  the  "waking  up"  of  Uncle  Sam.  When  aeroplanes 
become  a  commonplace,  his  eyes  will  be  completely 
open,  and  he  will  see  that  if  he  cannot  stand  in  slippery- 
places  when  drunk  much  less  will  he  be  able,  when  in 
that  condition,  to  walk  on  the  wings  of  the  wind 

154 


CHAPTER   XXX 
TOUCH    THE   BUTTON 

FOR  the  purpose  of  giving  publicity  to  the  pledges 
taken  in  this  campaign  men  and  women  are  expected 
to  wear  a  button  or  brooch.  As  soon  as  a  number  of 
persons  have  signed  the  pledge  at  a  public  meeting 
they  are  all  asked  to  put  on  the  badge  of  the  Union 
that  all  who  meet  them  may  know  what  side  they 
are  on. 

The  wearing  of  the  badge  has  been  one  of  the  most 
potent  causes  of  the  success  of  the  movement.  The 
badge  has  served  as  an  introduction  to  talk  about 
temperance  work  with  those  who  might  want  to  avoid 
such  talk.  A  man  with  a  button  in  his  coat  meets 
another  without  a  button,  and  says  to  him:  "Have 
you  not  'taken  the  button'  yet?"  There  is  no  need 
to  say  a  word  about  temperance  or  signing  a  pledge. 
People  have  found  the  greatest  ease  in  talking  to  their 
friends  about  "taking  the  button"  when  they  never 
would  have  ventured  to  speak  to  them  about  taking 
the  pledge. 

At  the  close  of  my  address  one  night  in  Belfast  a 
large  number  of  persons  came  to  the  front  to  sign  their 
names.  I  asked  them  to  put  on  the  badges.  A  per- 
sonal friend  of  mine  said  to  me :  "Patterson,  I'll  sign 
your  pledge  but  I'll  not  put  on  your  button." 

I  asked  him:    "Why?" 

He  said :   "I  don't  believe  in  badges  and  signs." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "you  and  I  have  been  friends  for 
some  years,  and  I  ask  you  to  put  on  the  button  just 
for  one  week  for  friendship's  sake." 

155 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"All  right,"  he  said,  "then  I  will." 

I  put  the  button  in  his  coat.  On  that  day  week  I 
met  him  on  the  street.  He  ran  up  to  me  and  said: 
"Patterson,  I  believe  in  the  button." 

I  asked  him  how  he  had  become  converted  to  his 
belief. 

He  said :  "I  have  three  friends,  and  for  years  I  have 
been  watching  them  getting  more  and  more  into  drink- 
ing habits.  I  often  wished  to  speak  to  them  on  the 
matter  and  never  had  courage  to  do  so.  Indeed,  I 
thought  they  would  take  my  mention  of  it  as  an  insult. 
Since  I  put  on  the  button  this  day  week  my  three 
friends  have  met  me  in  three  different  places  and  at 
different  times  on  the  street,  and  each  one  of  them 
caught  hold  of  my  coat  and,  pointing  to  the  button, 
said:  'What  is  that  you  have  got?'  I  said:  'That 
is  the  Catch-my-Pal  button!'  You  see,  they  started 
the  conversation,  I  saw  my  opportunity  and  embraced 
it,  and  I  got  the  three  of  them  to  take  the  pledge  and 
put  on  the  button.  /  believe  in  the  button." 

The  use  of  the  button  has  fostered  the  feeling  of 
brotherhood  and  sisterhood  among  those  who  wear 
it.  I  have  heard  many  stories  of  how  friendships 
have  been  formed  in  trains  and  trams  by  those  to 
whom  the  button  was  an  introduction.  A  young  min- 
ister told  me  the  following  story :  "I  was  going  along 
the  road  one  Saturday  evening  from  the  railway  sta- 
tion to  a  manse  about  a  mile  and  a  half  away.  I  met 
a  man  who  said:  'Good-evening,  your  reverence; 
you'll  let  me  carry  your  bag  for  you.'  I  thanked  him 
and  let  him  have  my  bag.  We  walked  and  we  talked, 
and  several  times  I  asked  him  to  give  the  bag  to  me. 
But  he  said :  'No,  your  reverence ;  I'll  carry  your  bag 
to  the  manse  for  you.'  He  handed  me  the  bag  at 
the  manse  gate,  and  I  asked  him  why  he  was  so  kind 
to  me,  a  stranger.  He  said :  'Well,  your  reverence, 
you  see,  here's  my  button.  I  belong  to  the  button 
men;  and  last  night  I  was  at  the  Catch-my-Pal  meet- 

156 


TOUCH    THE    BUTTON 

ing,  and  the  man  who  addressed  us  said,  'Men,  if  any 
of  you  see  another  man  who  wears  the  button  and 
think  you  can  do  him  a  good  turn,  then  do  it  to  him 
as  a  brother  button  man.'  And,  your  reverence,  when 
I  saw  you  coming  along  I  said  to  myself :  'Here's  a 
wee  man  with  a  big  bag,  and  he  has  got  the  button. 
I  can  do  him  a  good  turn;  I'll  carry  the  bag  of  a  but- 
ton man.' ' 

The  button  on  a  man's  coat  acts  like  an  engagement 
ring  on  the  finger  of  a  girl :  it  keeps  off  the  other  fel- 
loivs!  Behind  the  button  there  is  a  feeling  of  security. 
While  I  believe  in  the  depravity  of  human  nature  I 
do  not  believe  there  are  many  men  in  any  neighbour- 
hood who  will  deliberately  try  to  tamper  with  the 
total  abstinence  virtue  that  the  button  stands  for  on 
the  bosom  of  a  brother. 

But  saloon-keepers  of  the  meaner  type  have  tried  to 
tamper  with  that  virtue  by  all  kinds  of  dodgery.  They 
issued,  in  some  cases,  to  their  customers  at  the  bar, 
buttons  almost  like  the  Catch-my-Pal  buttons.  Passers- 
by  would  not  know  the  difference  between  the  two 
buttons,  and  would  naturally  say:  "There  are  your 
Catch-my-Pal  men!  You  see  them  going  into  and 
out  of  the  saloons  every  day.  What  is  the  use  of  join- 
ing a  society  like  that?"  Free  drinks  and  free  sup- 
pers have  been  offered  by  saloon-keepers  to  members 
of  the  Union  to  induce  them  to  break  their  pledges. 
Members  have  gone  into  saloons  to  get  mineral  waters, 
and  have  found  that  the  bar  men  put  whisky  or  some 
other  intoxicant  into  the  drink  on  the  sly.  In  this  way 
men  who  were  formerly  hard  drinkers  have  been  taken 
unawares,  and  have  fallen  into  their  old  habits.  Bar 
men  have  been  known  to  offer  a  quart  of  their  best 
whisky  to  men  for  their  buttons,  and  to  exhibit  but- 
tons thus  procured  in  their  windows,  with  a  view  to 
bringing  the  movement  into  disgrace. 

We  have  often  heard  it  said  by  those  in  the  trade 
that  they  never  invite  anyone  in  to  drink.  They  need 

157 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

never  open  their  mouths  to  talk  like  this  again  after  the 
mean  tricks  and  devilish  dodgery  many  of  them  have 
resorted  to  in  connection  with  this  crusade. 

If  the  saloon-keepers  have  tried  to  play  tricks  on  the 
pals,  it  is  interesting  to  learn  how  they  themselves  have 
been  tricked.  For  instance,  a  drinker  who  had  not 
joined  the  Union  found  a  button  on  the  street.  He  put 
it  in  his  coat  and  loitered  at  the  door  of  a  saloon.  The 
bar-man  saw  him  and  his  button,  and,  thinking  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Union,  offered  him  a  drink  for 
his  button.  The  man  at  once  consented,  and  the  bar- 
man thought  he  had  won  back  a  customer.  What  was 
his  chagrin  when  the  drinker  told  him  he  had  found 
the  button  on  the  street,  and  that  there  was  no  reason 
to  crow  over  a  fallen  pal!  Drinkers  have  procured 
buttons  in  many  ways,  and  used  them  for  procuring 
whisky  under  false  pretences. 

It  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  record  cases  of  great 
moral  heroism  on  the  part  of  heavy  drinkers  in  resist- 
ing the  saloon-keepers'  temptations. 

******* 

A  man  who  was  perhaps  the  most  notorious  drinker 
in  his  town  was  asked  in  by  a  saloon-keeper  to  the  bar. 
The  saloon-keeper  offered  him  a  quart  of  whisky  for 
his  button.  He  took  the  bottle  of  whisky  and  handed 
the  saloon-keeper  the  button.  He  went  to  the  bar  door 
and  smashed  the  bottle  on  the  pavement,  and  went 
back  to  the  saloon-keeper  and  said:  "There  is  your 
whisky  outside.  I  can  get  another  button  for  tup- 
pence." 

******* 

A  man  well  known  to  me  as  an  almost  abandoned 
drinker  told  me  his  experience  of  temptation  in  a  sa- 
loon: One  day  I  went  into  a  pub  to  get  a  bottle  of 
lemonade.  The  publican  said  to  me : 

"Will  you  drown  your  button,  John?"  (A  man 
was  said  to  drown  his  button  when  he  gave  it  in  ex- 
change for  a  glass  of  whisky.) 


TOUCH    THE    BUTTON 

"What  will  you  give  me  to  drown  it  in?"  said  I. 

"I'll  give  you  a  glass  of  the  best  whisky  in  the 
house/'  said  he. 

"Done!"  said  I.    "Put  down  your  whisky." 

He  put  down  the  glass  of  whisky  on  the  counter, 
and  I  put  down  my  button  beside  it.  He  was  going 
to  take  the  button  for  the  glass,  but  I  said : 

"Drown  that  button." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  said  he. 

"I  mean  that  you  are  to  drown  that  button,"  said  I. 

"I  don't  know  what  you  mean,"  said  he. 

"I  mean  that  you  are  to  put  that  button  into  the 
whisky  and  drown  it,"  said  I. 

He  put  the  button  into  the  whisky. 

"Now,"  said  I :  "Take  the  button  out  of  the  whisky 
with  your  sugar  tongs." 

He  took  the  button  out,  and,  your  reverence,  there 
was  not  a  drop  of  whisky  on  the  button!  I  held  it 
up  before  him  and  said : 

"Look  here,  my  man,  there's  not  a  drop  of  whisky 
on  the  button." 

I  then  put  the  button  in  my  coat  again  and  patted  it 
as,  looking  over  the  counter,  I  said  to  the  publican : 

"There's  not  a  drop  of  whisky  on  it.  That  button 
is  whisky-proof.  And  if  the  button  is  whisky-proof, 
the  man  that  wears  the  button  is  whisky-proof;  no 
more  of  your  whisky  for  me." 

This  man  has  not  tasted  strong  drink  for  over  four 

years. 

******* 

"What  is  that  you  have  got  in  your  coat?"  said  a 
bar-man  to  one  of  his  former  customers  standing  op- 
posite his  shop. 

"That's  the  Catch-my-Pal  button,"  said  the  pal. 
"And  what  is  that  you  have  got  up  there?"  he  added, 
pointing  to  the  saloon  signboard. 

"Oh,  that's  my  sign  that  I  am  licensed  to  sell  drink," 
answered  the  saloon-keeper. 

159 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"Well/'  said  the  other,  "if  that's  your  sign  that 
you  are  licensed  to  sell  drink,  this  is  my  sign  that  I 
am  licensed  not  to  drink  your  drink/' 

******* 

One  day  at  a  seaside  resort  I  saw  a  jarvey  sitting 
on  his  jaunting  car.  His  horse  was  restive  and,  as 
I  passed  by,  I  said:  "I  think  that  horse  would  need 
the  button." 

"Well,  yer  rivirince,  if  the  horse  has  not  tuk  the 
button,  he  knows  that  the  man  behind  the  horse  has 
tuk  it." 

I  then  saw  that  the  jarvey  was  a  "button  man." 
He  told  me  how  he  had  been  a  big  drinker,  how  he 
had  joined  the  Union  in  his  town,  and  how  the  horse 
knew  the  difference  in  the  treatment  it  received  from 
him  now  as  compared  with  what  it  used  to  receive 
before  he  took  the  button. 

******* 

The  present  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin,  was 
formerly  Dean  of  Clogher.  In  a  recent  letter  to  me 
he  wrote:  "On  July  I2th,  there  were  thousands  of 
Orangemen  in  Enniskillen,  and  not  a  tipsy  man  among 
them.  It  was  noted  that  from  under  nearly  every 
sash  there  peeped  out  your  little  button." 

******* 

JOHNNIE:  "Now,  do  you  think  I  look  like  a  man 
that  would  barter  my  freedom  for  a  button  ?" 

JIMMIE:  "I  think  you  look  like  one  that  does  not 
know  the  meaning  of  freedom.  It  would  need  more 
than  a  poor  little  button  to  break  your  chain." 

JOHNNIE  :    "Man,  it  would." 

JIMMIE :  "You  admit  that?" 

JOHNNIE  :    "Certainly." 

JIMMIE:     "Where  is  your  freedom,  then?" 

SAMMIE  :  "Come  away,  Johnnie,  he's  one  too  many 
for  you." 

JOHNNIE:    "Och!  away  you;  the  man's  right!" 

160 


TOUCH    THE    BUTTON 

In  many  districts  in  Ulster,  and,  I  suppose,  in  most 
places,  it  used  to  be  considered  a  cowardly  thing  for 
a  man  to  take  the  pledge.  The  public  use  of  the  button 
has  almost  entirely  changed  the  common  opinion  about 
pledge-taking.  Instead  of  being  now  considered  a 
coward  if  he  takes  the  pledge,  a  man  is  considered  a 
cozvard  if  he  does  not  take  it. 

A  man  used  to  come  for  a  pledge  in  the  way  he  came 
for  a  license  of  marriage.  I  was  one  of  the  licensers 
of  marriage  in  the  Presbytery  of  Armagh,  and  in  that 
capacity  I  had  some  curious  experiences  with  men  at 
that  interesting  juncture  in  their  lives. 

The  candidate  for  license  would  stand  at  the  door 
for  some  time  wondering  if  he  should  knock.  When, 
at  last,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  knock,  he  did  it  so 
gently  that  the  maid  did  not  hear  him.  He  began 
to  think  the  passers-by  were  taking  rather  too  much  in- 
terest in  him,  so  he  ventured  to  give  one  big  knock  in 
the  middle  of  a  number  of  "wee"  ones. 

When  the  maid  came  to  the  door  he  appeared  like 
one  suffering  from  creeping  paralysis  as  he  nervously 
asked:  "Is  his  reverence  in?" 

He  was  invited  into  the  hall.  He  leaned  against 
the  door  while  the  maid  told  the  minister.  His  rever- 
ence came  out  and  enquired:  "What  can  I  do  for 
you,  sir?" 

Seeing  the  peculiar  look  on  the  face  that  indicated 
dread  of  a  licensing  ordeal  the  minister  asked  the  poor 
victim  into  his  study.  There  the  candidate  sat  for 
about  thirty-five  minutes  talking  to  the  minister  about 
all  sorts  of  things  but  the  thing  in  hand.  Crops,  coal, 
weather,  politics,  etc.,  were  all  passed  in  review.  It 
was  part  of  the  minister's  pleasure  to  see  the  candi- 
date writhing  with  desire  to  make  known  his  errand, 
but  deliberately  to  refuse  to  help  him  out  of  his  hole. 
At  last,  when  he  thought  he  could  keep  his  secret  no 
longer,  the  victim  of  a  matrimonial  propensity  ven- 
tured to  rub  his  palms  together  and  to  count  his  ringers, 

161 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

and  to  look  out  from  under  his  brows  at  the  minister 
while  he  said :  "Your  reverence,  I  say,  your  reverence, 
I  was — I  was — I  was  thinkin'  of  changin'  my  mode 
of  life,  your  reverence." 

The  blue  papers  were  then  produced  by  the  minister. 
All  the  necessary  forms  were  signed  and  witnessed. 
The  precious  license  was  put  away  in  the  inside  pocket 
of  the  vest  near  the  heart.  Good-night  was  said,  and 
the  happy  man  walked  out  into  the  street.  He  went 
fairly  steadily  till  he  heard  a  footfall  just  behind  him. 
He  started  like  a  guilty  thing  upon  a  fearful  summons. 
He  thought  he  had  been  tracked  and  that  all  was 
known!  He  felt  as  if  everyone  he  met  had  X-rays 
in  his  eyes  and  saw  through  his  two  coats  and  waist- 
coat to  the  little  blue  paper.  He  walked  as  if  to  a  scaf- 
fold till  he  reached  the  door  of  his  beloved.  He  did  not 
mince  matters  with  the  knocker  there.  He  was  soon 
in  the  angelic  presence. 

He  was  a  great  man  then!  He  would  go  through 
fire  and  water  then!  He  did  not  talk  about  the  price 
of  coal  then!  He  looked  at  her  most  endearingly, 
and  she  looked  at  him  most  expectantly.  He  put  his 
hand  over  his  heart,  and,  rubbing  his  bosom,  he  said : 
"Ach,  an'  sure  it's  just  there,  my  darlin'." 

And  if  she  had  only  known  what  a  shape  he  had 
made  before  the  minister's  maid,  and  what  a  waste 
of  the  minister's  time  had  been  caused  by  his  sheer 
cowardice,  she  would  have  said:  "Take  yourself  and 
your  wee  blue  paper  out  of  this.  It's  A  MAN  I  want !" 

Many  men  have  come  to  me  after  this  fashion  for 
pledges  in  former  days.  But  in  connection  with  this 
campaign  they  seem  to  have  no  hesitancy  in  letting 
all  the  world  know  what  side  they  are  on.  And  noth- 
ing has  more  helped  to  change  the  attitude  of  men  and 
women  towards  pledge-taking  than  the  public  wearing 
of  the  button. 


162 


CHAPTER   XXXI 
"THREE  KINDS  OF  FLY" 

IN  all  our  attempts  at  catching  men  we  should  study 
the  man  to  be  caught.  Lack  of  method  and  unmiti- 
gated fussiness  are  characteristic  of  too  much  Christian 
work. 

One  day  a  lady  came  to  ask  me  to  go  and  speak 
to  a  friend  of  hers  about  his  drinking  habits.  I  said 
I  could  not  see  my  way  to  go  near  him,  and  I  asked 
her  why  she  came  to  me.  "Well,"  she  said,  "you  have 
been  so  successful  in  saving  men  from  drink,  I  thought 
that  you  would  surely  be  the  one  to  see  this  man."  I 
told  her  I  could  not  go  to  him,  and  when  she  asked 
me  why  I  could  not  go  I  said,  "If  you  want  to  send 
your  friend  to  the  devil  altogether  you  will  send  me  in 
on  him." 

"Why,  what  in  all  the  world  do  you  mean?"  said 
she. 

"I  mean  just  this, — that  man  is  not  my  pal.  I  do  not 
know  him.  He  does  not  know  me.  I  never  heard  of 
him  before.  If  I  went  to  see  him  I  should  have  to 
break  the  ice  and  gradually  let  him  know  that  I  had 
come  to  talk  to  him  about  his  drinking  habits.  He 
would  then  begin  to  rage  in  his  bosom,  and  all  the 
venom  and  wrath  and  spleen  of  his  nature  would  mani- 
fest themselves  in  his  face,  and  he  would  storm  at  me 
and  say,  'What  do  you  mean  by  coming  here?  Who 
has  been  going  behind  my  back  to  tell  you,  a  stranger, 
about  my  drinking  habits?  What  right  have  you,  a 
stranger,  to  intrude  upon  the  privacy  of  my  life?  Take 
yourself  and  your  good  advice  through  that  door!' 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

And  he  would  almost  pitch  me  out,  and  down  his  office 
steps.  Certainly  I'll  not  go  near  him.  That  would  not 
be  'Catch-my-Pal.'  But  do  you  know  three  of  that 
man's  acquaintances,  who  know  that  he  drinks  ?  And 
he  knows  that  they  know  ?  Will  you  go  and  get  three 
such  friends,  pals  of  his,  in  fact,  to  band  themselves 
into  a  little  brotherhood  of  salvation  for  saving  that 
man?  If  you  will  do  this  you  will  be  doing  a  much 
wiser  thing  than  if  you  ask  me  to  go  to  him,  and  you 
will  be  all  the  more  likely  to  accomplish  your  friend's 
deliverance  from  drink."  She  said  she  thought  it 
would  be  wiser,  and  that  she  would  go  and  do  as  I 
suggested. 

In  vain  is  the  net  spread  in  the  sight  of  any  bird. 
It  will  not  do  for  me  to  buttonhole  every  drinker  that 
I  know.  I  may  know  that  a  man  is  a  drinker  while 
I  do  not  know  the  man.  Unless  I  know  the  man,  it 
may  prove  very  foolish  if  I  attempt  to  save  him  from 
his  drinking.  It  would  be  more  wise  if  I  tried  to  get 
one  who  really  knows  him  to  become  interested  in  him 
and  to  attempt  to  make  the  rescue. 

As  I  was  going  along  an  Irish  road  one  day  with 
a  medical  student  who  was  on  his  way  to  fish  in  a 
river,  he  said  to  me,  "There  is  a  peculiar  little  fish  in 
that  river.  /  have  to  put  three  kinds  of  fly  on  my  line 
at  three  different  times  of  the  day  to  catch  that  one 
kind  of  fish."  And  I  thought,  "What  a  lesson  from 
this  fisher  of  fish  for  me  a  fisher  of  men !"  What  was 
the  lesson?  If  that  young  student,  in  addition  to  his 
other  studies,  went  to  the  trouble  of  studying  that 
little  fish,  which  is  seemingly  worthless  except  for 
the  fun  of  catching  it,  to  such  an  extent  that  he  knows 
exactly  what  kind  of  fly  he  must  put  on  his  line,  at 
three  different  times  of  the  day,  to  land  it  on  the  bank, 
why  should  not  I,  a  fisher  of  men,  go  to  the  trouble  of 
studying  the  man  I  want  to  catch?"  And  so  I  lay 
stress  on  the  thought  at  the  back  of  the  name  Catch- 
w;y-Pal.  Every  one  of  us  knows  some  person  who 


"THREE    KINDS    OF    FLY" 

is  either  down  or  going  down,  some  one  whom  we 
can  call  friend,  chum,  pal, — one  who  is  so  intimate  that 
we  have  every  opportunity  of  looking  into  the  nooks 
and  crannies  of  his  or  her  life,  and  to  make  a  close 
study  of  the  particular  influence  we  should  bring  to 
bear  upon  his  or  her  life  so  as  to  effect  a  rescue.  The 
bait  used  at  one  time  may  be  quite  out  of  place  at 
another;  so  we  have  to  study  times,  and  seasons,  and 
all  kinds  of  idiosyncrasies,  that  we  may  at  last  decide 
on  the  proper  bait,  and  the  proper  time,  and  the  proper 
method  of  approach,  to  land  our  pal  on  the  bank  of  a 
pure  and  sober  life.  Let  us  have  a  very  homely  illus- 
tration. A  young  man  goes  in  search  of  a  wife.  He 
goes  a  "courting."  The  very  word  implies  caution, 
patience,  insight,  foresight,  the  wiles  of  wisdom,  the 
determination  to  succeed,  the  study  of  his  object,  the 
carefulness  that  avoids  mistakes,  the  gentleness  that 
draws,  the  weaving  of  webs,  the  choosing  of  bait,  the 
throwing  of  the  line,  the  jumping,  the  biting,  the  catch- 
ing, and  the  landing !  And  when  the  landing  is  accom- 
plished he  feels  rewarded  for  all  the  trouble  of  the 
courting.  Indeed,  he  could  wish  that  it  had  all  to  be 
done  again,  for  the  joy  of  a  second  landing.  And  if 
I  am  to  be  a  successful  fisher  of  men,  landing  them 
on  the  bank  of  the  river  of  life,  I  must  court  my  pals. 
In  the  social  world  you  court  your  "gal"  and  catch 
her.  And  in  the  social  reform  world  I  court  my  pal 
and  catch  him.  In  courting  one  has  to  use  many  a 
"fly."  Sometimes  more  than  three  kinds  of  fly  are 
necessary  in  the  course  of  one  day  to  attract  and  gain 
attention.  And  if  I  am  to  CATCH  MY  PAL  it  may 
be  necessary  to  use  many  kinds  of  fly  before  I  can 
meet  with  success.  I  cannot  possibly  know  what 
kind  of  fly  I  should  use  to  attract  and  catch  a  man 
whom  I  do  not  know.  But  if  I  attempt  to  catch  a 
PAL,  I  can  study  my  pal  so  that,  by  all  the  loving 
wiliness  of  personal  knowledge,  I  may  land  him  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus.  Sometimes  by  a  wise  word,  some- 

165 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

times  by  a  loving  look,  sometimes  by  a  winning  smile, 
sometimes  by  a  friendly  hand-grasp,  sometimes  by  a 
stern  rebuke,  sometimes  by  an  appeal  to  manly  qual- 
ity, sometimes  by  a  Christian  suggestion,  sometimes 
by  a  business  suggestion,  and  sometimes  by  a  prayer 
when  every  other  art  proves  a  failure,  may  a  man  be 
won,  a  pal  be  caught,  a  new  recruit  gained  for  the 
forces  of  God  and  Righteousness. 

If  a  fisher  of  fish  studies  his  fish,  the  fisher  of  men 
must  study  his  man.  To  study  a  man  aright  he  must 
study  the  Son  of  Man  who  knows  what  is  in  man.  And 
He  says,  "Follow  Me  and  I  will  make  you  to  become 
fishers  of  men."  The  art  of  Christian  Fishing  is  the 
most  delightful  and  happy  of  all  the  fishing  arts.  But 
it  is  usually  overlooked  that  it  IS  an  art.  And  artless 
fishing  for  men  is,  perhaps,  the  most  conspicuous 
weakness  of  the  Church  of  Christ  to-day.  If  the  world 
is  to  be  won  for  God  and  Purity  the  Church  must  see 
that  she  turns  out  "Complete  Anglers"  to  go  a-fishing. 
Every  Christian  Congregation  should  be  a  Training 
School  of  Anglers.  Every  Christian  Congregation 
should  be  a  Catch-my-Pal  Society,  in  which  every  per- 
son desirous  of  doing  work  for  the  Kingdom  of  God 
should  be  trained  in  the  best  methods  of  work  so  as 
to  secure  the  winning  of  all  those  within  the  circuit  of 
that  congregation  that  are  in  need  of  winning.  The 
Church  has  laid  great  stress  on  preaching,  and  rightly 
so.  She  has  laid  great  stress  on  teaching  also,  and  rightly 
so.  But  she  has  not  laid  much  stress  on  training;  and 
there  she  has  failed.  All  over  our  civilized  world  there 
are  great  technical  schools  in  which  pupils  are  trained 
to  put  in  practice  the  teaching  they  have  received.  And 
we  all  know  what  a  difference  there  is  between  teaching 
and  training.  A  man  may  know  all  about  the  details 
of  an  internal  combustion  engine  and  pneumatic  tyres 
and  electric  arc  lamps,  but  have  no  experience  in  the 
driving  of  an  automobile.  Training  is  the  putting  of 
teaching  into  proper  practice.  And  while  the  churches 

166 


:<  THREE    KINDS    OF    FLY' 

have  preached  and  taught,  they  must,  if  they  are  to 
hold  their  own,  merely  as  business  concerns,  to  say 
nothing  of  them  as  spiritual  concerns,  begin  to  train 
their  members  in  the  happy  art  of  catching  men.  There 
is  an  unlimited  field  of  operations  among  the  young 
men  and  the  young  women  of  the  churches.  And  what 
multitudes  of  Communicants  go  to  the  Table  of  the 
Lord  to  profess  their  loyalty  to  Him,  and  go  away 
from  the  table  as  an  unorganised  crowd,  with  no  defi- 
nite aim  or  object  before  them  as  members  of  a  great 
brotherhood  and  sisterhood  of  salvation!  As  a  great 
motor  factory  is  so  organised  that  every  man  is  spe- 
cially trained  to  do  a  specific  work  in  turning  out 
a  complete  machine,  so  each  congregation  should  be 
organised  that  each  member  will  have  a  specific  work 
to  do  for  turning  out  a  purified  society.  And  when 
each  Christian  comes  to  see  it  to  be  his  or  her  duty 
and  privilege  and  pleasure  to  work  for  the  catching 
of  at  least  one  other  for  God,  and  that  other  one  his  or 
her  own  PAL,  there  will  be  nothing  impossible  in  the 
wonder-working  power  of  the  Church  among  the  ruins 
of  humanity. 

When  in  Salt  Lake  City  I  was  surprised  to  hear  that 
every  young  man  and  every  young  woman  of  the 
Mormon  faith  promises  to  give  at  least  two  years  of 
his  or  her  life  to  the  propagation  of  Mormonism  wher- 
ever the  church  wishes  to  send  them.  And,  certainly, 
there  are  no  members  of  any  church  better  trained 
in  the  art  of  catching  men  than  the  Mormons.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  nearer  the  mark  if  I  said  "the  art  of 
catching  women."  At  any  rate  the  Mormons  are 
trained  to  be  "fishers  of  men/'  It  is  no  wonder  the 
Mormon  faith  is  spreading  at  such  a  rate  as  to  be 
the  greatest  menace  to  the  United  States.  The  success 
of  Mormonism  is  the  result,  not  so  much  of  preaching 
or  of  teaching  as  it  is  of  training.  The  late  Dr.  A.  B. 
Bruce  has  given  us  a  great  book  on  "The  Training  of 
the  Twelve."  Jesus  "made  them  to  become  fishers 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

of  men."  And  the  greatest  work  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  to  do  to-day  is  to  train  her  members  to  be 
fishers  and  not  bunglers.  Christians  must  be  wise  as 
serpents  and  harmless  as  doves  in  their  work  as  fellow- 
workers  with  Jesus  Christ.  He  that  is  wise  winneth 
souls.  The  last  words  my  dear  father  said  to  me 
were,  "They  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness 
of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn  many  to  right- 
eousness as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

In  all  our  theological  colleges  we  have  Chairs  of 
Pastoral  Theology  for  the  purpose  of  training  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  in  the  art  of  catching  men.  In 
every  Christian  Congregation  there  should  be  such  a 
Chair  for  the  training  of  young  Christians  in  the  art 
of  being  fellow-workers  together  with  Jesus  Christ. 
Jesus  knew  how  to  adapt  Himself  to  every  situation 
in  which  He  found  Himself,  and  there  is  nothing  in 
the  Gospels  so  interesting  to  me,  except  His  death,  as 
the  way  He  dealt  with  individuals.  Truly  He  was  the 
Son  of  Man  and  knew  what  was  in  man,  and  knew 
how  to  meet  every  emergency  in  the  way  of  dealing 
with  every  kind  of  individual  that  met  Him  along  His 
way  of  ministry.  Read  the  first  two  chapters  of  St. 
Mark.  You  feel  as  if  you  were  in  an  American  hustle 
all  the  time.  What  impresses  you  when  you  thought- 
fully read  those  chapters  and  lay  down  your  Bible? 
Why,  you  say,  Jesus  was  master  of  every  situation; 
He  was  ready  for  every  emergency.  Surely  here  is 
the  Wisdom  of  God  incarnate.  Surely  here  is  THE 
ONE  Who  can  train  men  how  to  deal  with  men.  We 
will  sit  at  His  feet  and  hear  His  word,  and  we  will 
follow  Him  that  He  may  train  us  to  be  fishers  of  men. 
Every  Christian  Congregation  should  aim  at  being  a 
Christian  Technical  School  for  training  Christian  fish- 
ers to  go  out  in  all  wisdom  to  catch  men  and  save 
for  purity  the  neighbourhood  in  which  the  Congre- 
gation is  placed. 

All  this  will  mean  trouble.    It  will  mean  an  upsetting 

168 


"THREE    KINDS    OF    FLY" 

of  many  old  methods.  It  will  mean  a  complete  up- 
heaval in  the  common  ideas  regarding  congregational 
life  and  aims.  It  will  mean  an  entire  reorganisation  of 
most  congregational  societies.  It  will  introduce  the 
missionary  ideal  into  all  departments  of  Church  life. 
It  will  knock  the  bottom  out  of  the  self-complacency 
with  which  some  congregations  contemplate  great  col- 
lections and  successful  funds,  while  men  and  women 
and  children  are  left  outside  the  church  unsought  and 
unsaved. 

How  much  is  a  man  better  than  a  fish !  How  neces- 
sary that  every  Christian  worker  should  study  the  art 
of  "Three  Kinds  of  Fly." 


169 


CHAPTER   XXXII 
THE  POINT  OF  CONTACT 

GOD  has  as  many  ways  of  saving  men  as  He  has  of 
making  men.  Never  in  all  the  history  of  the  world 
were  two  men  made  alike.  No  two  men  in  all  the 
world  think  alike,  or  speak  alike,  or  write  alike,  or 
walk  alike,  or  sin  alike.  And  no  two  men  are  saved 
alike.  We  cannot  tell  how  many  lines  may  be  drawn 
to  the  centre  of  a  circle,  and  we  cannot  tell  how  many 
ways  God  has  of  drawing  men  to  Himself.  Every  tree 
in  the  forest  casts  its  own  shadow  as  every  tree  stands 
in  its  own  relation  to  the  sun.  Each  man  stands  on 
his  own  line  of  relation  to  God,  and  he  must  go  along 
that  line,  and  no  other,  if  he  is  ever  to  come  to  God. 
But  each  man's  line  leads  him  to  the  Cross  on  the  way 
to  the  Father. 

All  attempts  to  save  a  man  from  any  sin  should  be 
made  at  what  is  called  the  point  of  contact.  Many  of 
the  attempts  at  saving  men  fail,  because  those  who 
make  them  fail  to  see  that  God  has  no  cast-iron  way  of 
saving  men.  One  would  think,  on  hearing  some 
preachers,  that  all  men  must  have  quite  similar  experi- 
ences of  conversion.  But  a  man's  experience  of  con- 
version altogether  depends  on  the  nature  of  the  sin 
from  which  he  is  converted.  And  as  sin  is  as  varied 
in  its  aspects  as  is  the  human  face,  we  must  not  put 
down  any  cast-iron  rule  and  say  that  unless  a  man 
is  saved  according  to  that  rule  he  is  not  saved  at  all. 

The  commonest  assumption  regarding  our  attempts 
at  saving  men  is  that  we  must  BEGIN  WITH  THE 
SOUL.  As  far  as  I  know  there  is  no  place  in  the 

170 


THE    POINT   OF   CONTACT 

Bible  where  we  are  told  that  a  man's  salvation  must 
begin  in  his  soul.  And  I  do  not  think  that  we  are 
warranted  by  any  interpretation  of  Scripture  experi- 
ence in  assuming  that  we  must  begin  the  work  of  sal- 
vation with  the  soul.  God  wants  to  save  the  MAN. 
And  the  soul  is  not  the  man. 

I  have  never  seen  a  ghost.  I  have  never  seen  a 
man  or  a  woman  without  a  body.  It  requires  both  a 
body  and  a  soul  to  make  a  man  or  a  woman.  But  so 
much  value  is  attached  to  the  soul  by  many  who  are 
seeking  the  salvation  of  their  fellows,  they  almost, 
if  not  entirely,  overlook  the  value  of  the  body. 
Or,  if  they  think  of  it  at  all,  they  consider  the  body 
more  an  obstacle  to  salvation  than  an  object  of  salva- 
tion. It  is,  in  their  estimation,  so  much  clay,  so  much 
dust  of  the  earth.  Their  attitude  to  the  body  might 
thus  be  illustrated : — 

A  lunatic  was  at  large  one  day.  I  knew  him  well. 
In  his  lucid  intervals  he  was  quite  an  ordinary  per- 
son; but  when  he  went  off  his  head  he  became  a  tre- 
mendous theologian !  On  this  day  he  overtook  a  great 
ecclesiastical  dignitary  and,  eyeing  him  several  times 
from  head  to  foot,  he  exclaimed,  "Who  made  you? 
I  say,  who  made  you?"  The  Ecclesiastic  said,  "Oh, 
God  made  me."  "And  a  great  big  lump  of  dirt  he  did 
make!"  answered  the  lunatic.  Is  it  not  so  that,  in 
the  eyes  of  many  who  are  working  for  the  salvation 
of  men,  the  body  is  looked  upon  as  not  much  better 
than  what  that  lunatic  called  it  ? 

Now,  what  is  the  Scriptural  view  of  the  human 
body?  It  is  the  workmanship  of  God.  Listen  to 
the  author  of  that  "God-intoxicated"  psalm,  the  I39th. 
"Thou  hast  covered  me  (margin,  "knit  me  together") 
in  my  mother's  womb.  I  will  praise  Thee,  for  I  am 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made:  marvellous  are  Thy 
works;  and  that  my  soul  knoweth  right  well.  My 
frame  was  not  hidden  from  Thee,  when  I  was  made 
in  secret,  and  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of 

171 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

the  earth.  Thine  eyes  did  see  mine  unperfect  sub- 
stance, and  in  Thy  book  were  all  my  members  written, 
which  day  by  day  were  fashioned,  when  as  yet  there 
was  none  of  them." 

Our  bodies  are  "the  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 
We  are  to  "glorify  God  in  our  bodies  and  in  our  spirit? 
which  are  His."  We  are  "to  present  our  bodies  liv- 
ing sacrifices,  holy  and  acceptable,  to  God.  This  is 
our  reasonable  service."  Paul  prays,  "May  your  whole 
spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  preserved  without  break  or 
blame  till  the  arrival  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Jesus,  the  Saviour,  "will  transform  this  body  of  our 
low  estate  till  it  resembles  the  body  of  His  Glory." 
In  the  face  of  such  declarations  as  these,  must  we 
not  think  of  the  body  as  very  precious  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  that  He  wants  to  save  the  body  as  well  as 
the  soul?  He  does  not  want  to  save  the  soul  alone 
or  the  body  alone,  but  both  soul  and  body.  He  must 
save  both  if  the  individual  is  to  be  saved,  for  it  re- 
quires both  to  make  the  individual. 

I  venture  to  say  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  Jesus 
to  have  gone  to  the  grave  to  save  our  souls.  He  saved 
our  souls  before  He  gave  up  the  spirit  and  entered  into 
the  state  of  the  dead.  In  other  words,  Jesus  went  into 
hell  before  He  went  into  the  grave.  We  might  say  that 
Jesus  died  twice  upon  the  Cross.  He  first  died  in  His 
soul,  and  then  in  His  body.  He  became  a  lost  soul. 
"He  Who  knew  no  sin  was  made  to  BE  SIN."  When 
He  was  SIN  He  was  God-forsaken.  God-forsaken- 
ness is  Hell.  He  could  go  no  further  from  the  Father 
morally  or  spiritually  than  when  He  became  Sin.  He 
then  "poured  out  His  soul  unto  death/'  and  we  are  to 
"make  His  soul  an  offering  for  our  sins."  If  Jesus 
thought  as  little  of  the  human  body  as  some  preachers 
do  He  never  would  have  gone  to  the  grave,  because 
He  wrought  out  the  salvation  of  our  souls  when  He 
was  crying  out,  "My  God,  my  God,  Why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  me?"  But  He  wanted  to  save  our  bodies  too, 

172 


THE    POINT    OF    CONTACT 

and  "He  bowed  His  head  and  gave  up  His  spirit." 
He  gave  up  the  spirit  of  His  bodily  life  that  He  might 
become  a  dead  body  and  enter  into  the  grave  from 
which,  by  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  He  might 
come  forth  with  the  salvation  of  the  body  too.  He 
slaved  our  souls  by  the  death  of  His  soul,  and  He* 
saved  our  bodies  by  the  death  of  His  body.  He  poured 
out  his  soul  unto  death  that  our  souls  might  live  and  He 
poured  out  His  body  unto  death  that  our  bodies  might 
live.  He  wanted  to  save  the  whole  man.  And  His 
fellow- workers  must  aim  at  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
man,  body  and  soul.  And  it  does  not  matter  whether 
a  man's  salvation  begins  in  the  body  or  in  the  soul  as 
long  as  it  begins  at  all.  Sometimes  the  soul  is  saved 
through  the  body,  and  sometimes  the  body  is  saved 
through  the  soul.  Jesus  Himself  used  both  methods 
in  the  New  Testament  time,  just  as  both  methods  were 
used  in  Old  Testament  time.  Naaman's  wife  had  a 
little  Hebrew  maid  who  told  her  mistress  of  the  won- 
derful man,  Elisha,  the  prophet  of  Jehovah.  She  said 
to  her  mistress,  "Would  God  my  master  were  with 
the  prophet  that  is  in  Samaria,  for  then  would  he  re- 
cover him  of  his  leprosy."  Naaman  came  to  Elisha.  I 
am  sure  Elisha  could  have  desired  nothing  more  than 
that  Naaman  should  believe  in  his  God.  But  he  saw 
that  the  immediate  need  of  Naaman  was  the  cure  of 
the  leprosy,  so  he  told  him  to  go  and  wash  himself  in 
Jordan.  Naaman  expected  Elisha  to  mention  the  name 
of  his  God  in  working  the  cure.  But  the  prophet  never 
mentioned  God's  name.  He  simply  told  Naaman  to 
go  and  wash  himself.  Naaman  went  and  washed,  and 
his  leprosy  left  him,  "and  his  flesh  came  again  like 
unto  the  flesh  of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean." 
This  seems  like  the  Old  Testament  way  of  saying  that 
Naaman  was  "born  again/'  He  became  like  a  "little 
child"  as  far  as  his  body  was  concerned.  And  what 
happened  then?  Why,  he  immediately  made  a  con- 
fession with  his  soul,  as  he  stood  before  the  man  of 

173 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

God  and  said,  "Behold,  now  I  know  that  there  is  no 
God  in  all  the  earth  but  in  Israel."  His  soul  was 
reached  through  the  body.  Even  though  he  did  go 
back  and  bow  down  in  the  house  of  Rimmon  he  prayed 
that  the  only  God  would  pardon  him.  He  might  bow 
down  in  the  house  of  Rimmon  as  a  matter  of  form, 
but  his  heart  would  not  bow  there  with  his  knees. 
He  went  back  a  believer.  He  became  a  believer  by 
the  salvation  of  his  body. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  find  Jesus  and  the  Apos- 
tles adopting  the  same  method  as  Elisha  in  the  case  of 
diseased  persons.  They  wanted  these  persons  to  come 
to  a  saving  knowledge.  And  it  was  usually  through 
the  body  the  saving  knowledge  came.  In  the  case  of 
the  sick  of  the  palsy  Jesus  was  beginning  the  man's 
salvation  through  the  soul  when  He  said,  "Thy  sins 
be  forgiven  thee."  But  when  He  was  criticised  by  the 
professional  theologians  as  to  His  method  He  then 
began  at  the  body.  It  was  all  the  same  to  Him  whether 
He  said,  "Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee,"  or  "Rise,  take 
up  thy  bed  and  walk."  It  was  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  Jesus  whether  He  began  with  the  soul  or  with  the 
body.  One  was  as  precious  in  His  sight  as  the  other, 
and  He  was  willing  to  begin  with  either  as  long  as 
the  MAN  was  saved.  The  usual  method  with  Jesus 
was  to  begin  with  the  body.  He  began  at  the  blind 
man's  eyes.  He  began  at  the  dumb  man's  tongue.  He 
began  at  the  deaf  man's  ears.  He  began  at  the  lame 
man's  feet.  He  began  at  the  hand  of  the  man  whose 
hand  was  withered.  Then,  having  made  a  beginning, 
He  worked  from  the  HAND  to  the  soul;  He  worked 
from  the  FEET,  to  the  soul;  He  worked  from  the 
EARS  to  the  soul;  He  worked  from  the  TONGUE  to 
the  soul;  He  worked  from  the  EYES  to  the  soul.  And, 
when,  in  the  Name  of  Jesus,  we  try  to  bring  about  a 
man's  salvation,  we  must  begin  at  the  place  where  the 
man  needs  salvation  most,  the  most  obvious  point,  the 

174 


THE    POINT    OF    CONTACT 

point  of  contact,  the  point  where  the  man  best  under- 
stands. 

The  most  obvious  salvation  that  a  drunkard  needs 
is  salvation  from  drink.  We  might  take  his  throat 
as  his  diseased  part.  Let  us  begin  at  the  diseased 
part.  Let  us  begin  at  the  THROAT,  and  WORK 
FROM  THE  THROAT  TO  THE  SOUL.  In  other 
words,  let  us  get  the  drinker  to  take  a  pledge  to  give 
up  the  drink,  and  then  he  will  be  all  the  more  likely 
to  think  seriously  about  life  and  God. 

We  send  medical  missionaries  to  heathen  lands. 
Why?  Is  it  that  we  may  save  their  souls ?  Yes.  But 
is  that  all  we  want?  If  so,  then  why  send  medical 
missionaries?  But  we  want  to  save  MEN  and 
WOMEN  and  CHILDREN,  body  and  soul.  And  a 
medical  missionary  is  more  likely  to  be  effective  than 
a  non-medical  one.  Why  ?  Because  the  heathen  mind 
can  understand  a  bodily  cure  when  it  cannot  compre- 
hend a  spiritual  one.  If  I  may  be  permitted  so  to  use 
the  words :  "That  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but 
that  which  is  natural;  and  afterward  that  which  is 
spiritual."  Through  the  saved  body  the  Christian 
medical  missionary  makes  a  highway  of  sympathy  for 
the  King  to  enter  the  City  of  Mansoul. 

In  the  mission  to  the  drunkards  we  are  dealing  with 
a  particular  form  of  disease  which  is  bodily.  We 
therefore  attempt  the  salvation  of  the  body  first,  in 
the  hope  that  we  may  reach  the  whole  MAN,  body  and 
soul.  We  do  not  say  that  we  are  successful  in  every 
case.  "Were  there  not  ten  cleansed?  But  where  are 
the  nine?"  But  if  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children, 
and  if  a  movement  is  known  by  its  fruits,  we  have 
enough  evidence  of  saved  LIVES  all  over  the  land 
to  make  us  persuaded  that  the  movement  has  been  of 
God  and  has  been  a  wise  one  in  turning  many  to 
righteousness. 

There  are  many  who  stand  aloof  from  and  criticise 
the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  because  it  does  not  al- 

175 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ways,  in  the  first  instance,  seek  the  salvation  of  a 
man's  soul.  They  say:  "If  a  man  is  converted  he  is 
all  right."  Yes!  But  what,  exactly,  is  conversion, 
and  when  does  a  man  begin  to  be  converted? 

They  say :  "If  a  man  is  born  again,  he  is  all  right/' 
Yes !  But  what,  exactly,  is  it  to  be  "born  again,"  and 
when  does  a  man  begin  to  be  born  again  ? 

They  say:  "If  the  Grace  of  God  could  only  get  a 
hold  of  these  men  and  women  who  have  signed  the 
pledge."  Yes!  But  what  is  the  Grace  of  God?  What 
is  it  like?  How  does  it  manifest  itself?  Who  will 
undertake  to  say  when  the  Grace  of  God  begins  to 
lay  hold  on  any  of  us?  There  are  some  who  think 
the  Grace  of  God  is  a  spiritual  power  which  manifests 
itself  in  some  indefinable  way  in  a  man's  soul.  It  may 
be  this,  and  often  is  this.  But  the  Grace  of  God  may 
take  the  form  of  public  opinion  in  a  man's  street. 

There  are  men  and  women  all  around  us  who,  if  we 
began  to  talk  to  them  about  their  souls,  would  simply 
turn  away  from  us.  Their  spirituality  is  so  low  that 
they  hardly  understand  spiritual  conversation.  They 
will  not  listen  to  sermons  about  conversion.  They 
cannot  be  saved  by  a  direct  appeal  to  the  soul.  The 
point  of  contact  at  which  salvation  can  be  brought  to 
them  is  not  in  the  soul ;  it  will  probably  be  found  in  the 
diseased  body  craving  for  drink,  or  in  the  bosom  of  a 
broken-hearted  wife,  or  in  the  misery  of  a  half -starved 
child,  or  in  the  squalor  of  the  fireside.  If  we  talk  to  a 
drunkard  about  these  things  he  will  understand.  If 
he  comes  to  see  that  the  public  opinion  in  his  street  is 
so  changed  that  it  will  not  tolerate  these  things,  but 
looks  on  them  with  loathing  and  disgust,  he  will  begin 
to  become  sensitive  to  his  surroundings;  he  will  feel 
miserable  in  running  the  gauntlet  of  his  street's  con- 
tempt; his  thoughts  begin  to  take  a  higher  level,  and 
his  body  begins  to  follow  his  thought;  and  if  he  has 
no  heavenly  wisdom  to  understand  what  we  call  heav- 


THE    POINT    OF    CONTACT 

enly  things,  he  has  enough  worldly  wisdom  to  under- 
stand the  worldly  thing  of  his  own  street's  opinion 
about  him. 

All  our  attempts  to  save  a  man  should  be  made  at 
the  point  where  he  understands.  If  he  cannot  bear  talk 
about  his  soul  he  can  bear  talk  about  his  body,  and  the 
state  into  which  he  has  brought  his  wife  and  children 
by  his  life  of  debauchery.  Once  we  have  got  a  man  to 
see  he  is  a  fool  as  far  as  this  world  is  concerned,  we 
have  led  him  very  near  to  the  point  of  wisdom  as  far 
as  the  next  world  is  concerned.  If  we  find  that  we 
cannot  begin  a  man's  conversion  in  his  soul,  let  us 
begin  with  the  body.  If  we  cannot  begin  at  his  head, 
let  us  begin  at  his  feet.  In  the  Name  of  Jesus  let  us 
begin  somewhere.  It  does  not  really  matter  where  we 
begin  so  long  as  we  begin  somewhere.  And,  if  we  can 
make  no  impression  on  the  man  by  appealing  to  his 
selfish  common-sense  regarding  his  own  body,  let  us 
appeal  to  him  along  the  line  of  unselfish  common-sense 
regarding  his  wife  or  children,  or  mother,  as  the  case 
may  be.  When  we  have  gained  an  inch  along  any  one 
of  these  lines,  let  us  try  with  all  our  hearts  to  gain 
another  inch,  and  another,  and  another,  until  we  have 
reached  the  very  centre  of  the  citadel  of  the  man's 
life.  Once  we  have  made  the  least  breach  in  the  wall 
of  a  man's  depraved  self  it  is  for  us  to  follow  up  our 
endeavour  till  the  whole  man  is  captured  for  God  and 
purity,  as  every  inch  gained  by  the  Japs  at  Port  Ar- 
thur was  held  till  they  gained  the  last  one.  Inch  by 
inch  the  fortress  was  taken.  The  fortress  of  Mansoul 
is  more  baffling  than  Port  Arthur.  And,  when  a  man's 
soul  is  at  last  captured  for  God,  who  will  say  when 
and  where  the  Grace  of  God  began  to  operate? 

Let  me  give  a  few  instances  of  how  men's  souls  were 
saved  through  the  saving  of  their  bodies. 

A  man  came  to  see  me  one  day  and  told  me  his  story. 
"I  was  a  drunkard  for  twenty-seven  years.  My  wife's 
heart  was  broken  by  my  bad  conduct.  My  children 

177 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

ran  from  me  in  fear  when  I  came  home  from  my  work. 
My  home  was  miserable,  and  I  was  in  debt.  I  signed 
the  pledge  at  a  meeting  four  years  ago.  Since  then  I 
have  not  tasted  drink.  I  have  a  new  home.  I  just 
wish  you  saw  it.  My  wife  is  as  happy  as  the  day  is 
long.  My  children  now  welcome  me  home.  I  have 
family  worship  every  night,  and  I  go  to  church  every 
Sunday.  I  have  been  converted  and  I  am  now  a  com- 
municant. I  thank  God  that  He  saved  me  through 
Catch-my-Pal."  When  did  that  man's  conversion  be- 
gin? He  is  a  leading  Christian  worker  in  his  church 
to-day. 

I  know  a  man  in  a  very  good  position  who  almost 
destroyed  his  family  by  his  drunken  life.  He  was  con- 
sidered the  very  worst  drinker  in  his  district;  and  no 
one  thought  he  could  ever  give  up  his  craving.  He 
joined  the  movement  as  soon  as  it  came  to  his  village. 
He  kept  the  pledge  faithfully,  to  the  surprise  of  every- 
one who  knew  him,  and  especially  to  the  surprise  of  his 
wife  and  children.  He  told  me  he  had  been  a  drinker 
for  over  forty  years.  For  several  months  after  he 
signed  the  pledge  he  would  neither  go  to  his  market 
town  nor  to  Belfast,  lest  he  might  be  tempted  to  break 
it.  He  prayed  for  strength  to  keep  it.  When  he  felt 
strong  enough  to  resist  temptation  he  ventured  to  go 
away  from  home.  He  went  to  fairs  and  markets.  He 
has  never  taken  any  drink  since  he  took  the  pledge 
over  four  years  ago,  though  he  has  come  through  a 
time  of  great  physical  suffering  when  he  felt  the 
temptation  very  strong.  He  has  become  a  communi- 
cant and,  that  he  is  living  a  consistent  life,  all  who 
know  him  testify.  I  was  conducting  a  service  in  a 
church  near  his  home  one  Sunday  afternoon.  He  was 
present.  I  was  told  that  his  wife,  who  was  also  pres- 
ent, wished  to  see  me  at  their  house  after  the  service. 
I  suspected  why  she  wished  to  see  me.  I  saw  her  and 
her  husband  and  their  children.  They  were  all  so 
happy-looking  that  I  could  hardly  believe  they  had 

178 


THE    POINT    OF    CONTACT 

ever  been  looking  any  other  way.  The  gratitude  I 
saw  in  that  good  woman's  eyes  that  day  I  shall  never 
forget.  I  believe  she  asked  me  to  her  house  that  I 
might  see  it.  It  was  worth  going  round  the  world  to 
see.  I  felt  that  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  was  justi- 
fied by  the  look  on  that  one  face.  The  Salvation 
of  Christ  had  come  to  that  house. 

On  New  Year's  Eve,  1911,  I  was  going  into  a  large 
hall  in  Belfast  to  conduct  a  Watch-night  service.  Two 
labouring  men  whom  I  did  not  know  accosted  me  at 
the  door.  One  said :  "Your  reverence,  I  want  to  tell 
you  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you." 

"Why  are  you  glad  to  see  me?"  I  asked. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  that  your  button  has  been  the 
means  of  my  salvation." 

On  expressing  my  delight  to  hear  such  news  I  asked 
him  how  it  came  about. 

He  said:  "I  'took  the  button'  two  years  ago.  I 
was  a  great  drinker.  But  I  have  never  tasted  a  drop 
for  two  years.  I  went  into  a  Gospel  meeting  three 
weeks  ago,  and  I  gave  myself  to  Christ  that  night.  I 
never  would  have  been  in  that  meeting  at  all  if  I  had 
not  'taken  the  button.'  I  have  been  wearing  this  but- 
ton for  two  years,  and  it  has  been  the  means  of  my 
salvation;  but  I  did  not  know  it  till  three  weeks  ago." 

His  companion  added,  "And  I  can  say  the  same  as 
my  pal,  your  reverence,  for  I  'took  the  button'  at  the 
same  time,  and  I  was  converted  at  the  same  meeting 
three  weeks  ago." 

The  Gospels  record  the  gratitude  of  at  least  one 
woman  out  of  whom  Jesus  cast  seven  devils.  The 
Catch-my-Pal  movement  can  point  to  many  women 
who  were  considered  as  quite  abandoned  to  drink  and 
to  all  ungodliness,  but  who  are  to-day  living  pure 
Christian  lives.  And  the  gratitude  I  have  seen  in 
their  eyes  testifies  to  the  presence  of  Jesus  in  their 
hearts. 

179 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"I've  found  a  Friend ;  O  such  a  Friend ! 

He  loved  me  ere  I  knew  Him ; 
He  drew  me  with  the  cords  of  love, 

And  thus  He  bound  me  to  Him; 
And  round  my  heart  still  closely  twine 

Those  ties  which  nought  can  sever, 
For  I  am  His  and  He  is  mine 

For  ever  and  for  ever." 

I  have  always  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  total 
abstinence  is  not  enough  to  save  a  man.  I  have  often 
found  persons  who  seemed  to  think  that  total  absti- 
nence was  a  summing  up  of  all  the  virtues.  They 
suffer  from  a  surfeit  of  self-satisfaction  if  not  from  a 
surfeit  of  spirits.  But  a  man  may  be  a  total  abstainer 
and  be  a  blackguard.  He  may  be  a  total  abstainer  and 
be  a  liar.  He  may  be  a  total  abstainer  and  be  a  Sab- 
bath-breaker. He  may  be  a  total  abstainer  and  be  on 
the  way  to  hell.  But  while  total  abstinence  is  not 
enough,  it  may  prove  to  be  the  first  step  for  some  men 
on  the  way  to  heaven.  It  may  be  the  first  showing 
of  the  crucifying  of  the  flesh  which  is  only  complete 
when  we  are  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  the  Crucified  One. 
If  a  man  who  has  been  a  great  drinker  gives  up  his 
drinking,  he  may  not  be  converted,  but  he  is  in  the  way 
of  being  converted;  if  he  is  not  saved,  he  is  in  the  way 
of  being  saved.  He  is  more  likely  to  believe  to  the 
saving  of  his  soul  at  a  sober  fireside  than  he  was  at  a 
drunken  one.  And  the  Lord  is  adding  to  the  church 
daily  such  as  are  being  thus  saved  by  the  hand  of  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement.  This  is  the  testimony 
borne  by  ministers  and  other  Christian  workers  in  all 
districts  where  the  movement  has  had  a  chance,  and 
it  is  the  testimony  I  am  continually  receiving  from  men 
and  women  whom  I  meet  as  I  go  about  from  place 
to  place. 


180 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 
A  GREATER  WATERLOO 

WHEN  we  go  to  war  we  try  to  throttle  our  enemy, 
lest  our  enemy  throttle  us.  We  have  been  hearing 
long  enough  that  if  the  State  does  not  throttle  the 
drink  traffic,  the  drink  traffic  will  throttle  the  State. 
We  have  heard  from  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Eng- 
land that,  in  his  opinion,  formed  after  many  years  at 
the  bar  and  on  the  bench,  about  ninety-five  per  cent,  of 
the  crime  of  that  country  is  due  to  drink.  We  have 
heard  that  Mr.  Gladstone  used  to  say  that  drink  was 
responsible  for  more  deaths  and  disasters  than  all  the 
horrors  of  war,  pestilence,  and  famine.  We  have 
heard  from  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England  that  if  we 
could  solve  the  drink  problem  we  could,  at  the  same 
time,  solve  about  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  other  social 
problems  that  are  facing  us  to-day.  There  is  not  one 
of  us  who  does  not  know  the  truth  of  these  things  we 
have  so  often  heard.  If  we  are  persuaded  of  the  truth 
of  these  statements  it  is  surely  time  that  each  of  us 
began  to  think  seriously  whether  the  conditions  which 
make  these  statements  possible  are  to  continue  to  re- 
main at  our  doors.  If  they  are  so  to  continue  we  must 
admit  that  we,  as  a  country,  are  in  the  grip  of  our 
enemy.  We  are  not  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  siege  is 
over,  and  the  enemy  is  in  the  streets.  The  drink  king 
is  ruling  over  us  with  an  unmerciful  hand.  He  has 
been  chastising  us  with  scorpions.  He  has  brought 
hell  into  our  homes  and  turned  our  people  into  his 
garden  of  delight,  the  city  slum. 

There  is  hardly  a  home  in  our  land  from  which  no 
181 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

member  of  the  family  has  gone  to  do  battle  with  the 
drink.  There  is  hardly  a  home  in  our  land  in  which 
one  beloved  one  has  not  lain  dead  at  the  hand  of  this 
enemy.  The  destroyer  has  come  over  every  threshold. 
And  as  we  would  shut  and  barricade  our  doors  to  keep 
an  armed  man  from  entering  to  slay  us,  so  we  need 
to  rouse  the  people  to  a  true  sense  of  their  danger  in 
the  presence  of  this  foe  of  the  family  life. 

This  is  a  question  that  concerns  every  fireside.  Our 
aim  as  Social  Reformers  must  be  to  get  the  people 
to  arise  and  shut  the  doors  not  only  of  their  homes, 
but  of  their  country  against  this  foe.  This  is  a  ques- 
tion for  the  people.  It  is  first  and  foremost  and  pre- 
eminently a  question  for  the  people.  But  the  people 
think  it  is  a  question  for  ministers  of  religion  and 
church  officers  generally.  They  say:  "Let  the  minis- 
ters fight  this  battle  for  us."  But  the  ministers  never 
can  do  it.  The  people  say:  "Let  the  church-wardens 
and  elders,  and  class  leaders,  and  Sabbath  School 
teachers,  and  superintendents  fight  the  battle  for  us." 
But  these  can  never  do  it.  The  people  say:  "Let  the 
leaders  of  Social  Reform  fight  this  battle  for  us."  But 
these  can  never  do  it.  Why  ?  Simply  because  no  offi- 
cer ever  yet  won  a  battle.  The  officer  gives  the  lead, 
and,  woe  to  the  officer  who,  in  the  day  of  battle,  will 
not  give  the  lead ;  but  when  the  lead  is  given,  it  is  for 
the  rank  and  file  to  see  the  thing  through.  Will  you 
who  read  this  little  book  join  with  me  in  the  rank  and 
file,  and  rise  and  do  your  duty? 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  addressing  a  thousand  boys 
at  the  Naval  School  at  Greenwich,  all  sons  of  the 
British  Navy,  and  all  preparing  to  enter  the  Navy.  At 
the  close  of  my  address  I  asked  the  boys  to  strike  out 
for  a  TEMPERANCE  TRAFALGAR.  I  said :  "Boys !  Who 
won  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar?"  A  thousand  boys 
yelled:  "Nelson!"  I  answered  with  a  loud  and  ve- 
hement "NO!"  The  boys  stared  at  me  and  at  one 
another  in  blank  amazement.  They  were  quite  silent 

182 


A  GREATER    WATERLOO 

while  their  eyes  wandered  about,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
they  were  all  asking  one  another:  "What  does 
the  man  mean?  He  says  it  wasn't  Nelson  who  won 
the  Battle  of  Trafalgar!  Didn't  you  always  hear  it 
was  Nelson?  And  didn't  you,  and  you,  and  you? 
What  on  earth  does  that  wild  Irishman  mean  by 
saying  it  wasn't?  He  does  not  know  one  word  of 
English  history.  What  does  he  mean?" 

I  said:  "I  know  what  you  are  thinking  and  saying; 
and,  boys,  you  are  quite  right,  you  are  quite  right.  It 
was  Nelson's  genius  that  planned  the  battle,  and  his 
genius  that  composed  the  immortal  signal,  'ENG- 
LAND EXPECTS  THAT  EVERY  MAN  WILL 
DO  HIS  DUTY.'  Nelson  was  pierced  by  a  French 
bullet  and  fell,  and  was  able  to  command  no  longer. 
But  the  battle  went  on.  Why?  Because  the  inspira- 
tion of  that  signal  got  into  the  men,  and  the  men 
jumped  up  into  the  inspiration  of  the  signal;  and,  boys, 
it  was  your  grandsires,  your  grandfathers  and  great 
grandfathers,  the  rank  and  the  file,  every  man  on  every 
ship  on  that  immortal  day  who  did  his  duty,  and  saw 
Trafalgar  through."  When  the  boys  saw  my  point, 
that  the  fight  was  fought  and  the  victory  won  by  their 
own  grandsires,  they  shouted  and  cheered  approval 
in  such  a  fashion  as  to  fill  any  Britisher's  heart  with 
pride.  I  asked  them  all  to  strike  out  for  a  Greater 
Trafalgar,  to  be  won  by  us  over  a  greater  foe  than 
ever  the  French  were.  They  all  rose  at  my  request, 
and  when  I  said :  "Now,  boys,  for  a  Temperance  Tra- 
falgar!" they  held  up  their  hands  and  repeated  a 
Total  Abstinence  pledge,  and  with  clenched  fists  above 
their  heads  all  those  thousand  boys  said  word  by  word 
after  me : 

"WE— WILL— SEE— THIS— THING- 
THROUGH  !" 

In  this  Greater  Trafalgar  America's  God  expects  every 
man  will  do  his  duty,  and  every  woman  too. 

183 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

In  the  thick  of  the  fight  at  Waterloo,  Wellington 
saw  the  Ninety-Fifth  Regiment  wavering  before  the 
superior  power  of  the  French.  He  rode  up  and 
shouted:  "Stand  firm,  Ninety-Fifth!  We  must  not 
be  beaten !  What  would  they  say  in  England  ?"  The 
Ninety-Fifth  pulled  themselves  together  as  British 
heroes,  threw  off  the  power  of  the  French,  and  saw 
Waterloo  through.  And  when,  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land, one  of  that  regiment  was  asked  how  the  Battle 
of  Waterloo  was  won,  he  said,  using  the  same  phrase 
that  Nelson  used  nine  years  before :  "By  every  man 
blazing  away  at  his  own  gun." 

We  are  in  for  a  bigger  fight  than  ever  Waterloo  was, 
against  a  better  entrenched  foe  than  ever  the  French 
were,  and  this  battle  is  to  be  won  by  every  man  blazing 
away  at  his  own  gun. 

And  what  is  your  gun?  It  is  yourself.  You  are 
the  gun. 

And  what  is  your  powder  ?  It  is  your  own  personal 
influence. 

And  what  is  your  shot?  It  is  your  own  personal 
endeavour. 

And  what  is  your  fire?  Without  fire  the  gun  and 
the  powder  and  the  shot  are  only  an  encumbrance.  The 
fire  is  that  love  of  God  and  of  men  which  is  generated 
in  the  heart  of  every  one  who  believes  that  God  so 
loved  the  world  as  to  give  His  only  begotten  Son  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life. 

When  I  realise  what  that  love  means  to  my  own 
life,  how  God  in  Jesus  Christ  loved  me  and  gave  Him- 
self for  me,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  that  love  acts  as 
fire  on  my  personal  influence  so  that  it  drives  forth 
my  personal  endeavour  to  aim  at  some  point  for  purity 
of  life,  and  gain  some  victory  over  the  corrupting 
influences  of  our  time.  Love  of  God  and  love  of  our 
fellow  men,  that  is  fire!  Every  man  who  wants  to 
blaze  away  at  his  own  gun  in  doing  exploits  in  this 

184 


A  GREATER   WATERLOO 

TEMPERANCE  WATERLOO  must  have  that  fire. 
It  will  drive  him  out  into  Good  Samaritanship.  And, 
Good  Samaritanship,  working,  working,  among  the 
fallen  at  our  doors,  and  entering  in  through  the  gates 
of  Congress  into  the  doors  of  our  legislators'  hearts, 
will  secure  for  us  the  Greater  Waterloo  for  which  this 
country  cries  aloud  to-day. 

Perhaps  you  ask:  "If  I  am  a  gun,  what  am  I  to 
aim  at?  What  is  my  target?"  If  you  do  ask  this 
question,  will  you  ask  yourself  another?  Here  it  is: 
"Do  I  not  know  a  drinker?"  Please  think  what  an- 
swer you  can  give  to  this  question.  Do  you  not  know 
many  drinkers  ?  Have  you  ever  tried  to  speak  a  word 
of  warning  to  one  of  them?  Is  it  possible  that  you 
know  two  or  three  of  your  fellow-beings  who  are 
playing  with  damnation,  and  that  you  have  never  been 
so  brave  as  to  try  to  save  even  one  of  them  from  enter- 
ing into  it?  That  drinker,  whom  you  know,  is  your 
target.  Aim  at  that  target.  Try  to  gain  one  point 
for  God  and  purity  of  life  by  seeking,  in  the  fight 
against  drink,  to  save  one  fellow  man  or  woman  from 
the  grip  of  the  glass. 

Would  you  like  to  save  a  brother  or  sister  from 
destruction?  I  am  sure  you  would.  Allow  me  to 
say  to  you  what  an  Irish  priest  said  to  me:  "I  have 
come  to  see  that  I  can't  do  anything  to  get  the  people 
to  give  up  the  drink  unless  I  am  a  total  abstainer  my- 
self." If  you  are  not  a  total  abstainer  you  might  take 
the  hint,  and  become  a  wonderful  power  for  good 
among  your  fellows,  and  bring  joy,  not  only  to  your 
own  fireside  and  the  firesides  of  your  friends,  but  also 
to  the  angels  of  God  and  to  the  very  heart  of  God  Him- 
self. 

A  butcher  leads  a  bullock  to  the  door  of  a  slaughter- 
house. Will  the  beast  walk  in  willingly  and  uncon- 
cernedly? No!  He  will  smell  the  blood  of  his  slain 
brother  in  there  before  him,  and  he  will  stand  back! 
If  we  begin  to  rake  up  our  family  histories,  there  is  not 

185 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

one  of  us  who  will  not  come  very  soon  upon  the  bones 
of  a  father  or  mother,  sister  or  brother,  son  or  daugh- 
ter, or  some  bosom  friend,  lying  in  a  drunkard's  grave. 
Before  we  enter  one  of  these  human  slaughter-houses 
in  the  main  streets  and  down  the  side  streets,  on  the 
highways  and  byways  of  our  towns  and  country-side, 
it  would  be  well  if  we  could  put  ourselves  in  the  place 
of  the  bullock  that  we  might  back  from  thence.  Then 
we  would  come,  not  letting  a  mere  brute  instinct  assert 
itself  in  our  bosoms,  but  the  instinct  of  human  brother- 
hood and  sisterhood,  and,  smelling  the  blood  of  our 
slain  brothers  and  sisters  in  there  before  us,  we  would, 
with  the  fire  of  heavens  wrath  in  our  nostrils,  stand 
back!  And,  standing  back  ourselves,  we  should  see 
it  to  be  our  duty  to  do  all  that  in  us  lies  to  induce 
our  fellows  to  stand  back  too.  If  we  would  all  stand 
on  the  outside  of  the  saloons  there  would  soon  be  no 
inside  for  us  to  enter.  The  outside  is  the  only  safe 
side.  For  God  and  Home  and  country  let  us  stand  on 
the  safe  side. 

Why  are  there  so  many  publicans  in  the  country? 
Why  are  there  so  many  shoemakers?  Just  because 
there  are  so  many  people  who  want  boots  and  shoes. 
If  we  all  went  barefoot,  there  would  soon  not  be  a 
shoemaker  in  the  country.  Why  are  there  so  many 
bakers ?  Because  there  are  so  many  who  eat  bread.  If 
we  all  decided  to  live  on  grass  like  Nebuchadnezzer, 
there  would  soon  be  not  a  baker  in  the  country.  Why 
are  there  so  many  milliners?  Because  the  ladies  all 
have  such  a  desire  to  cover  their  beautiful  adornment 
of  natural  hair  by  the  wonderful  productions  of  art  we 
see  everywhere — indeed  we  can  hardly  see  anything 
else  wherever  they  are!  If  all  the  ladies  would  make 
up  their  minds  to  let  nature  have  a  chance,  there  would 
soon  be  not  a  milliner  in  the  country.  Why  are  there 
so  many  saloon-keepers?  Because  there  are  so  many 
people  who  want  drink.  And  if  we  all  made  up  our 
minds  to  do  without  drink,  and  to  do  everything  in  our 

186 


A  GREATER   WATERLOO 

power  to  promote  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  among 
our  friends,  there  would  soon  be  not  a  saloon-keeper 
in  the  country. 

If,  by  a  great  pledge  signing  campaign,  followed  by 
a  crusade  of  Good  Samaritanship  among  those  who 
have  fallen  half  dead  at  the  hand  of  the  drink  thief, 
we  could  so  much  reduce  the  volume  of  drinking  that 
those  who  are  at  present  in  the  trade  began  to  find  it 
did  not  pay  to  continue  in  it,  it  is  only  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  as  they  pass  away,  it  will  not  be  con- 
sidered worth  while  on  the  part  of  others  to  take  their 
places.  Surely  this  end  can  be  accomplished  ?  Surely, 
if  all  the  church-going  people  would  take  this  crusade 
into  their  own  hands  they  could  so  stagger  the  trade 
by  a  reduction  in  drinking  as  to  make  those  who  are 
engaged  in  it,  saloon-keepers,  brewers  and  distillers, 
wish  to  get  out  of  it.  And  when  we  have  succeeded  in 
doing  this,  we  shall  not  be  far  from  our  Greater 
Waterloo.  It  can  be  done  by  every  man  blazing  away 
at  his  gun,  and  every  woman  too.  And  I  am  glad  to 
know  that  the  women  of  America  are  demanding  and 
getting  the  power  to  vote.  For  when  the  women 
make  up  their  minds  America's  Waterloo  will  soon  be 
won. 


187 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 
PUBLIC  OPINION  :  WHAT  DOES  UNCLE  SAM  SAY? 

WE  have  always  been  told  that  we  cannot  legislate 
ahead  of  public  opinion.  If  we  ask  for  aggressive 
legislation  it  is  only  by  public  opinion  we  can  ask  it. 
If  we  have  not  got  aggressive  legislation  it  is  because 
we  have  not  an  aggressive  public  opinion.  One  of  the 
chief  aims  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  crusade  is  to  form 
that  aggressive  public  opinion  against  which  the  gates 
of  hell  and  the  gates  of  our  Legislature  shall  not  be 
able  to  stand. 

We  get  out  of  Parliament  just  what  we  put  into  it, 
and  nothing  more.  We  do  not  get  the  right  legislation 
out  because  we  do  not  put  the  right  men  in.  We 
do  not  put  the  right  men  in  because  we  have  not  a 
proper  public  opinion  to  seek  them  out  and  insist  on 
their  return  to  Parliament.  When  our  public  opinion 
is  right  we  will  put  the  right  legislators  into  Parlia- 
ment, and  we  shall  get  the  right  legislation  out  of  it. 

How  are  we  going  to  seek  out  and  return  the  right 
men?  Simply  by  getting  the  people  to  take  such  an 
interest  in  each  other's  welfare  that  they  will  see  their 
welfare  is  being  ever  threatened  while  human  slaugh- 
ter-houses are  tolerated  in  their  midst. 

Why  are  these  houses  tolerated  ? 

(1)  Because  there  are  so  many  people  who  drink 
moderately,  and  who  give  their  support  to  the  drink 
trade  every  time  they  take  their  glass. 

(2)  Because  there  are  so  many  who  drink  to  excess 
and  give  excessive  support  to  the  trade. 

(3)  Because  there  are  so  many  total  abstainers  who, 

188 


WHAT    DOES    UNCLE    SAM    SAY? 

while  they  withhold  their  support  from  the  trade  as 
far  as  cash  is  concerned,  are  indirectly  helping  it  by 
their  utter  indifference  to  the  results  of  the  moderate 
and  excessive  drinking  of  their  fellows. 

(a)  The  trade  smiles  on  the  moderate  drinkers  as 
its  best  customers,  seeing  that  they  are  still  respectable. 

(b)  The  trade  may  have  regrets  about  the  excessive 
drinkers  as  they  debauch  themselves  at  its  bar,  but  it 
throws  them  out  as  soon  as  it  has  secured  their  cash. 

(c)  The  trade  laughs  at  the  total  abstainers  who, 
while  they  take  good  care  to  keep  out  of  its  clutches 
themselves,  have  no  care  for  those  who  are  already 
in  those  clutches. 

While  the  majority  in  any  community  is  composed 
of  these  three  classes,  those  who  play  with  the  drink, 
those  who  are  its  slaves,  and  those  who  don't  care, 
so  long  will  the  saloons  stand  at  our  corners  and  along 
our  streets  and  highways,  belching  out  their  vulgar,  up- 
roarious horse-laughter  at  all  attempts  to  undermine 
them  and  their  nefarious  business. 

The  Catch-my-Pal  method  of  attack  on  the  saloon  is 
this:  It  urges  total  abstainers,  especially  professing 
Christians,  to  wake  up  and  realise  that,  after  all,  total 
abstinence  is  a  very  small  thing  on  the  part  of  any 
person  if  it  does  not  lead  to  personal  interest  in  those 
who  are  not  abstainers.  It  seeks  to  arouse  the  sense 
of  individual  responsibility,  so  that  those  who  know 
the  blessings  of  total  abstinence  will  become  mission- 
aries of  these  blessings  to  those  about  them  who  need 
these  blessings  most.  And,  when  a  great  drinker  is 
saved  by  the  personal  interest  and  endeavour  of  a  total 
abstainer,  it  sends  that  reclaimed  drinker  out  as  the 
best  possible  missionary  to  his  pals  who  are  still  drink- 
ing. When  a  number  of  these  great  drinkers  come  to- 
gether along  the  lines  of  sobriety  into  a  brotherhood, 
they  soon  form  a  public  opinion  among  themselves, 
which  becomes  to  them  the  mainstay  of  their  reformed 
life.  Then  the  moderate  drinker,  seeing  how  the  no- 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

torious  drinker  whom  he  formerly  despised  has  the 
manhood  to  go  past  the  saloon,  begins  to  think  it  is 
nearly  time  he  began  to  follow  his  example,  and  pass 
it  too. 

The  FIRST  MOVE  is  made  by  the  total  abstainer 
towards  his  fallen  brother.  This  fallen  one  becomes 
in  his  new  life  a  missionary  to  his  pals.  And,  when 
a  number  of  them  become  leagued  together  in  the 
new  life  of  sobriety,  the  moderate  drinkers  begin  to 
pull  themselves  up  through  very  shame.  While  it  is 
usually  a  total  abstainer  who  starts  the  work  of  reform 
in  any  locality,  the  most  effective  development  of  it 
falls  into  the  hands  of  the  hard  drinkers.  This  has 
been  so  abundantly  proved  throughout  the  country 
wherever  this  movement  has  had  a  chance  that  I  am 
more  and  more  inclined  to  lay  stress  on  the  statement 
I  made  to  the  first  six  men,  "Let  those  who  make  the 
problem  solve  it."  Every  drinker  saved,  especially  if 
he  has  been  a  great  drinker,  becomes  immediately: 
(i)  An  object  of  curiosity;  (2)  an  object  lesson;  and 
(3)  an  object  of  solicitude  to  the  whole  community 
in  which  he  lives;  and  the  natural  desire  of  all  who 
know  him  is  that  all  occasion  of  stumbling  in  future 
may  be  taken  out  of  his  way.  Local  public  opinion 
begins  to  focus  itself  on  the  saloon,  and  the  local  op- 
tion is  that  the  occasion  of  stumbling  at  the  corner 
should  be  removed,  at  least  -for  the  reclaimed  one's 
sake. 

When  a  great  number  of  drinkers  are  reclaimed, 
the  local  desire  for  the  closing  of  the  saloon  becomes 
all  the  more  intense.  It  is  our  aim,  therefore,  to  hasten 
the  reclamation  of  the  drinkers  by  Good  Samaritan- 
ship,  so  that  we  may  intensify  the  desire  for  local  op- 
tion or  prohibition,  and  hasten  the  putting  into  opera- 
tion of  the  means  whereby  that  desire  may  be  realised. 
Good  Samaritanship,  a  sense  of  interest  in  the  rescued, 
and  a  feeling  of  shame  on  the  part  of  moderate  drink- 
ers, these,  together  with  the  educative  forces  at  work, 

190 


WHAT    DOES    UNCLE    SAM    SAY? 

are  the  chief  determining  factors  in  the  formation  of  a 
local  public  opinion  against  the  local  saloon;  and  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement  aims  at  such  a  development 
of  these  factors  in  all  localities  as  shall  result  in  the 
return  to  Parliament  and  to  local  councils  of  those  can- 
didates only  who  will  legislate  on  local  option  lines,  or 
who  will  pledge  themselves  to  action  in,  and  not  to 
mere  sympathy  with,  the  crusade  against  the  trade. 

Let  me  give  a  concrete  example  of  Catch-my-Pal 
methods  in  seeking  to  obtain  local  prohibition.  In  a 
certain  district  the  movement  gathered  into  its  mem- 
bership about  two  thousand  men,  among  whom  were 
many  who  had  been  formerly  considered  hopeless 
drinkers.  An  election  was  about  to  take  place.  The 
candidate  made  his  statement  at  a  public  meeting,  and 
promised  to  be  sympathetic  with  temperance  reform. 
The  chairman  said  he  supposed  they  were  all  satisfied 
with  what  the  candidate  had  said.  The  -  Secretary 
of  the  Catch-my-Pal  Union  said  that  there  was  a  depu- 
tation from  the  Union  present,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  Union  they  wished  to  state  that  they  had  been 
content  too  long  with  getting  "sympathy"  from  their 
representatives.  They  now  wanted  action.  They 
wanted  their  candidate  to  promise  to  vote  for  local 
option,  no  matter  by  what  party  it  was  introduced  into 
the  House  of  Commons.  The  candidate  hesitated, 
but  when  he  received  a  hint  that  if  he  did  not  consent 
there  would  probably  be  two  thousand  votes  in  the 
balance,  he  consented  to  vote  for  local  option,  and 
expressed  his  consent  in  writing.  //  we  cannot  find 
members  of  Parliament  who  will  vote  for  prohibition 
because  of  their  own  consciences,  we  must  see  that  we 
return  members  who  must  vote  for  it  because  of  the 
conscience  of  their  constituencies. 

THIS  is  NOT  A  PARTY  PROBLEM.  It  is  a  problem  for 
all  parties  in  the  States.  It  is  a  question  that  must  be 
lifted  above  all  party  interests  in  our  State  legislatures 
and  in  Congress.  We  must  see  that  we  will  not 

191 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

be  a  party  to  the  giving  of  honour  to  the  man  who 
buttresses  by  his  vote  the  trade  which  brings  our 
sons  and  daughters  to  dishonour.  Every  candidate 
should  be  squared  on  this  question  before  he  appears 
on  the  hustings  at  all.  After  a  candidate  is  chosen 
to  fight  a  constituency  he  may  promise  almost  anything 
to  secure  his  own  return,  and  as  soon  as  the  fight 
is  over  and  he  stands  in  the  House,  he  may  fail  to 
stand  by  the  promises  he  made  in  the  heat  of  the 
election.  His  conscience  gives  its  heels  to  his  personal 
and  party  vanity  as  a  MEMBER  OF  THE  HOUSE! 

Is  it  not  possible  to  develop  such  a  public  conscience 
and  opinion  in  each  constituency  that  no  candidate  for 
parliamentary  honours  will  think  of  putting  himself 
forward,  and  no  official  delegates  who,  in  the  name  of 
the  constituency,  choose  the  candidate,  will  think  of 
bringing  any  candidate  forward,  unless  he  is  prepared 
to  vote  according  to  the  public  conscience  of  the  con- 
stituency  on  this  question?  All  parties  in  a  constitu- 
ency should  aim  at  such  a  development  of  public  opin- 
ion in  their  constituency  that  the  successful  candidate 
will  be  the  right  man  on  this  question,  no  matter  what 
his  party  politics  may  be.  Morley  says  of  Gladstone : 
"He  was  steadfast  for  making  politics  more  human, 
and  no  branch  of  civilised  life  needs  humanising 
more."  This  drink  question  is  a  political  question,  but 
it  is  not  a  party  political  one.  It  is  one  over  which  all 
parties  can  shake  hands  across  the  House  and  say: 
"This  is  not  a  party  question — it  is  a  question  of  com- 
mon humanity,  and  we  will  all  unite  our  hands  and 
hearts  in  'seeing  this  thing  through/  ' 

We  want  local  prohibition.  Some  people  want  na- 
tional prohibition.  I  would  accept  national  prohibition 
to-day  if  I  could  get  it.  But  I  consider  that  the  best 
way  to  secure  national  prohibition  is  along  local  prohi- 
bition lines.  We  can  never  have  national  prohibition 
till  the  people  are  aroused  to  prohibit,  and  if  localities 
are  so  aroused  as  to  clamour  for  local  prohibition  the 

192 


WHAT    DOES    UNCLE    SAM    SAY? 

nation  will  be  aroused  to  clamour  for  more  in  the  form 
of  national  prohibition. 

We  want  local  prohibition.  We  cannot  have  it  with- 
out legislation.  We  cannot  have  legislation  without 
public  opinion.  The  bes*t  way  to  form  public  opinion  is 
to  organise  a  campaign  of  Good  Samaritanship  among 
the  victims  of  drink.  We  should  never  ask  our  repre- 
sentatives to  do  within  the  doors  of  the  Legislature 
what  we  refuse  to  take  off  our  coats  to  do  at  our  own 
doorstep.  There  is  a  man  in  the  drunken  gutter.  Five 
minutes  of  well  directed  thought,  sympathy,  and 
brotherhood  may  save  that  man  even  though  there 
never  was  a  syllable  of  temperance  legislation  in  the 
statute  book  of  the  United  States.  Why  should  I 
ask  my  representative  to  do  by  legislation  what  I  will 
not  personally  touch  with  one  of  my  fingers?  Let  me 
rather  first  go  out  and  lift  up  my  fallen  brother.  Then, 
having  shown  I  am  in  earnest  I  can  demand  that  my 
representative  in  Parliament  shall  give  his  influence 
and  vote  for  the  passing  of  such  legislation  as  shall 
take  the  stumbling-block  out  of  my  brother's  way. 
Let  all  who  name  the  name  of  Christ  and  say  they 
love  God  love  their  neighbours  as  themselves,  and 
show  their  love  by  the  self-sacrifice  that  goes  out  to 
save  the  lost,  and  there  will  soon  be  developed  over 
the  land  an  opinion  against  the  saloon  which  no  Gov- 
ernment can  afford  to  neglect.  Such  public  opinion 
will  find  its  way  through  the  doors  of  the  State  Legisla- 
tures and  will  express  itself  in  such  a  way  as  to  con- 
vince the  legislators  that  it  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  the 
drink  trade  will  tremble  to  its  foundations  when  it 
hears  the  voice  of  God  before  the  Speaker  s  chair. 

If  the  PEOPLE  manifest  a  desire  to  be  freed  from 
a  bondage  that  galls  their  life  and  grinds  their  children, 
the  voice  of  the  people  becomes  the  very  voice  of  God, 
and  our  legislators  will  hear  and  understand  and  act. 
All  true  social  legislation  is  but  the  embodiment  and 
codification  of  the  people's  will,  as  expressed  through 

193 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

their  representatives.  That  will  has  shown  itself  in 
the  many  legislative  acts  which  have  been  passed 
to  regulate  the  drink  traffic,  but  it  has  never  yet  been 
so  strong  as  to  go  to  Congress  and  demand  the  de- 
struction of  the  destroyer.  Now,  we  want  its  destruc- 
tion. It  is  not  a  high  ideal  to  aim  merely  at  regulating 
the  destruction  of  the  people.  Surely  the  destroyer 
must  be  destroyed  and  not  regulated?  How  is  this 
to  be  accomplished?  By  the  will  of  the  people.  Are 
the  people  willing?  That  is  the  question.  We  must 
not  first  ask  if  the  Legislature  is  willing.  That  is  a 
secondary  question,  but  it  is  one  we  are  fond  of 
asking,  because  behind  it  we  think  we  can  hide  our 
own  individual  and  communal  responsibility.  We  say 
we  want  legislation,  and  that  our  legislators  are  so 
slow.  And,  while  we  are  waiting  for  legislation  to 
come  and  lift  our  fallen  brother  out  of  the  gutter, 
our  brother  is  lost — lost,  not  so  much  by  want  of  legis- 
lation as  by  want  of  brotherhood.  We  might  have 
saved  him  without  legislation.  This  is  one  of  the 
thoughts  at  the  heart  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement. 
And  when  it  has  done  its  work,  by  welding  the  com- 
munity into  one  vast  brotherhood  for  the  salvation 
of  those  who  are  down,  people  will  be  able  to  go  to 
Congress  and  demand  an  Act  of  Congress  as  an  Act 
of  the  People,  by  which  it  will  be  made  impossible 
for  temptation  to  stand  in  a  legalised  capacity  at  the 
corners  of  our  streets. 

The  Son  of  God  was  manifested  to  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil.  Can  the  drink  demon  not  be  slain? 
Can  the  work  of  the  drink  devil  not  be  destroyed? 
Can  we  find  no  way  of  compassing  his  craftiness? 
Must  we  still  be  "bossed"  by  the  beer  jug?  Is  the 
drink  traffic  still  to  stand  at  its  doors  with  arms  akim- 
bo, and  laughing  at  all  attempts  by  a  Christian  nation 
to  take  its  life? 

One  day  a  Scotch  farmer  was  going  out  over  his 
fields,  and  he  saw  a  little  man  walking  over  his  potato 

194 


WHAT    DOES    UNCLE    SAM    SAY? 

rigs,  trampling  down  the  plants  without  any  regard 
to  the  damage  he  was  doing.  The  farmer  approached 
him  and  said : 

"What  are  ye  doin'  walkin'  o'er  ma  potato  rigs? 
Tak  yersel'  oot  o'  this." 

The  wee  man  said  with  an  air  of  offended  official- 
dom: 

"Do  you  know  whom  you  are  talking  to?" 

"I  dinna  care  wha  I'm  talkin'  tae,  I'll  no  alloo  ony 
man  tae  walk  o'er  ma  potato  rigs;  tak  yersel'  oot  o' 
this!" 

"Do  you  know  that  I  am  a  Government  man  ?" 

"I  dinna  care  whether  ye're  a  Government  man 
or  no,  I  tell  ye  I'll  no  alloo  ony  man  to  walk  o'er  ma 
potato  rigs ;  tak  yersel  oot  o'  this !" 

"Well,  if  you  don't  believe  I  am  a  Government  man 
I'll  show  you  my  Government  papers." 

The  farmer  went  off  to  his  yard  and  brought  out  a 
great  bull  with  a  ring  in  his  nose,  and  a  tether  in  the 
ring.  He  took  the  tether  out  of  the  ring  and  directed 
the  bull's  attention  to  the  wee  Government  man.  Away 
the  bull  went  after  the  wee  Government  man  with  bent 
neck,  fiery  nostrils  and  erect  tail.  Away  the  wee 
Government  man  went  for  the  nearest  dyke  he  could 
find!  And  the  farmer,  making  a  trumpet  with  his 
hands,  shouted  after  him : 

"Haigh,  ma  wee  Government  man,  will  ye  show  him 
yer  Government  paper-r-r-r-r-rs !" 

The  drink  trade  comes  out  and  stalks  about  over 
the  land,  trampling  down  our  country's  prosperity, 
irrespective  of  what  damage  it  is  doing  as  long  as  it 
serves  its  own  ends.  We  approach  it  and  ask :  "What 
are  you  doing,  trampling  down  the  prosperity  of  our 
country  in  such  a  fashion?"  It  says:  "Do  you  know 
whom  you  are  talking  to  ?  Do  you  know  that  I  am  a 
Government  institution  ?  Do  you  not  know  that  I  have 
got  Government  papers?  Do  you  not  know  that  I 
am  a  licensed  trade?  If  you  don't  believe  me  I'll  show 

195 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

you  my  papers.  Here  is  my  license.  What  have  you 
got  to  say  to  that?"  Licensed  to  do  what?  Licensed  to 
damn  the  women!  Licensed  to  starve  the  children! 
Licensed  to  fill  our  workhouses!  Licensed  to  send 
twenty -five  per  cent,  of  the  inmates  to  our  asylums! 
Licensed  to  make  the  worst  of  our  city  slumdom!  Li- 
censed to  increase  lust!  Licensed  to  make  murderers! 
Licensed  to  empty  our  churches!  Licensed  to  make 
hell  at  the  fireside!  Licensed  to  turn  the  mightiest  in- 
tellects into  gibbering  idiots!  Licensed  to  send  men 
and  women  made  in  the  image  of  God  down  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  hell's  perdition!  Licensed  to  crush 
the  heart  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows!  Licensed  to  break 
up  the  partnership  between  God  and  man  in  the  making 
of  a  new  earth! 

Yet  that  trade  has  the  brazen  effrontery  of  hell  in 
standing  and  flouting  its  license  before  the  faces  of 
Americans  and  demanding:  "What  have  you  to  say 
to  THAT?" 

In  America,  if  you  wish  to  know  what  public  opinion 
is,  you  ask:  "What  does  Uncle  Sam  say?"  On  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  if  you  wish  to  know  what 
British  public  opinion  is,  you  ask:  "What  does  John 
Bull  say?"  And  when  the  drink  trade  pushes  its  li- 
cense into  their  faces  and  asks  what  they  have  to  say  to 
that,  it  is  for  Britishers  to  form  a  public  opinion, 
called  John  Bull,  and  to  let  THAT  out  at  this  licensed 
damnation,  and  drive  it  from  their  land. 

China  made  up  her  mind  in  1906,  and  expressed  her 
mind  in  an  Imperial  Decree,  that  she  would  drive  the 
opium  curse  out  of  her  land,  and  solve  her  opium 
problem  in  ten  years.  I  understand  that  already  about 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  opium  dens  are  closed. 

If  the  nation  which  we  used  to  speak  of  with  a  sneer 
of  "heathen  Chinee"  on  our  lips  can  rise  and  perform 
such  an  exploit,  it  is  time  that  the  leading  Christian 
nations  should  rise  and  do  their  duty. 

And  we  shall  never  do  our  duty  at  the  ballot-box 

196 


WHAT    DOES    UNCLE    SAM    SAY? 

if  we  are  not  willing  to  do  our  duty  to  our  fallen 
brethren.  If  there  was  an  attempt  to  drive  the  thieves 
off  the  road  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  by  means 
of  legislation,  no  reliance  could  be  placed  on  either  the 
priest  or  the  Levite  in  bringing  that  legislation  about. 
The  priest  would  take  no  interest  in  the  solution  of  the 
problem  because  he  took  no  interest  in  saving  the  per- 
son. The  Levite  would  take  no  interest  in  solving  the 
problem  because  he  took  no  interest  in  saving  the  per- 
son. But,  on  the  day  of  the  ballot,  commend  to  me 
the  Samaritan.  He  took  an  interest  in  the  person. 
He  went  out  of  his  way  to  save  the  man  at  the  way- 
side, and  he  would  go  out  of  his  way  to  vote  to  drive 
the  thief  from  the  highway. 

If  I  pass  the  drunkard  or  drinker  by  I'll  take  little 
interest  in  the  drink  problem.  But  if  I  go  out  of  my 
way  to  save  the  drunkard  I'll  also  go  out  of  my  way  to 
vote  to  destroy  the  drunkard-maker.  If  we  go  to  the 
trouble  to  study  the  damnation  caused  by  drink  we'll 
rise  in  all  our  God-given  might  and  bring  damnation 
to  the  drink.  GOOD  SAMARITANSHIP  IS  THE 
KEY  TO  THE  SOLUTION  OF  THE  DRINK 
PROBLEM. 


197 


CHAPTER  XXXV 
WHAT  ARE  THE  CHURCHGOERS  DOING  ? 

HUMAN  nature  has  an  instinct  for  ritual  in  almost 
every  sphere  of  life,  and  especially  in  the  religious 
sphere.  In  the  early  church  whose  members  were 
formerly  Jews,  accustomed  to  Old  Testament  ritual, 
there  would  naturally  be  a  sort  of  hankering  after  that 
ritual.  These  Christians  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
be  quite  reconciled  to  the  new  way  of  worship  that 
did  away  practically  with  all  ceremonies  of  a  ritualistic 
type.  And  so  St.  James  says  to  such  Christians,  "Pure 
religion  and  undefiled  before  God  the  Father  means 
this :  to  care  for  orphans  and  widows  in  their  trouble, 
and  to  keep  oneself  from  the  stain  of  the  world."  The 
word  here  translated  "religion"  does  not  mean  a  sys- 
tem of  doctrine  or  an  adherence  to  a  particular  creed. 
It  means  rather  religious  ceremonial.  And  the  advice 
of  the  apostle  to  these  early  Christians  might  be  para- 
phrased in  this  way :  If  you  want  religious  ceremonial 
and  ritual  you  can  have  as  much  as  you  want  by  keep- 
ing yourselves  free  from  the  sin  of  the  world,  and 
living  differently  from  the  worldly  people,  and  by  car- 
ing for  (Dr.  Moffatt  says  the  word  implies  personal 
service  and  help)  orphans  and  widows ;  in  other  words, 
looking  after  the  fallen,  and  seeking  to  solve  the  social 
questions  of  the  day. 

Is  there  not  a  strong  word  here  for  the  Church- 
goers of  to-day?  What  treading  of  the  courts  of 
Christian  temples!  What  forms  and  ceremonies! 
What  ritual!  What  meetings!  What  singing  of 
hymns !  What  tasting  of  Sermons !  What  enjoyments 

198 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

of  Intellectual  Treats !  What  Organ  Recitals !  What 
genuflections!  What  repetitions  of  prayers!  What 
attendance  at  Church  for  appearance's  sake!  What 
Churchianity !  And,  over  against  all  these,  what  or- 
phans and  widows  and  derelicts!  And  what  institu- 
tions, licensed  for  the  making  of  orphans  and  widows 
and  derelicts!  LICENSED  BY  THE  CHRISTIAN 
COMMUNITY! 

What  effect  have  the  hymn-singing  and  the  praying 
and  the  sermon  tasting  and  the  intellectual  treats  on 
the  continuance  or  discontinuance  of  these  licensed 
destroyers  ? 

In  Scotland,  if  you  want  to  know  who  is  a  person's 
minister,  you  will  likely  ask  him,  "What  minister  do 
you  SIT  under?"  The  very  common  idea  of  the  end 
and  aim  of  Church  attendance  entertained  by  many 
Christian  people  is  embodied  in  that  question.  A  lady 
was  one  day  passing  along  a  road  by  the  side  of  which 
an  old  blind  man  had  sat  for  many  years  begging.  She 
stopped  and  asked  him,  "I  have  often  wondered  how 
you  pass  your  time  on  this  bench  ?"  And  he  answered, 
"Well,  ma'am,  sometimes  I  sits  and  I  thinks,  and 
sometimes  I  JUST  SITS." 

How  characteristic  of  so  many  churchgoers! 

They  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit 
And  they  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit ; 

They  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit, 
And  they  sit  and  they  sit  and  they  sit ! 

There  would  be  more  hope  of  a  speedy  victory  over 
the  forces  of  evil  if  the  question  was  put  in  this  way: 

WHAT  MINISTER  DO  YOU  GO  UNDER? 

While  we  see  outside  many  churches  that  "A  Hearty 
welcome  is  given  to  all,"  the  welcome  cannot  come 
from  the  bell  tower  or  from  the  well  carpeted  aisle,  or 
from  the  comfortable  pew,  or  from  the  wood  of  the 
pulpit,  or  from  any  part  of  the  mere  fabric  of  the 

199 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

church  building.  The  welcome  must  come  from  the 
CHURCH,  from  the  PEOPLE  in  the  church.  And 
that  welcome  to  the  outcast  and  the  downcast,  and  to 
those  on  the  highways  and  by  the  hedges,  must  be  given 
by  the  people  of  the  church  GOING  to  extend  the 
welcome.  We  must  go  out  into  the  highways  and 
hedges  and  compel  them  to  come  in  by  self-sacrifice, 
by  good  Samaritanship.  The  Man  half  dead  cannot 
COME.  We  must  Go  to  him.  And  if  there  was  more 
Going  on  the  part  of  the  Church  to  the  World,  there 
would  be  more  Coming  on  the  part  of  the  World  to 
the  Church. 

No  one  can  find  fault  with  the  Christianity  of 
Christ,  but  there  is  much  wrong  with  the  Churchianity 
of  the  Churches. 

If  the  Christianity  of  Christ  was  allowed  to  displace 
the  Churchianity  of  the  Churches  there  would  be  the 
greatest  revolution  and  revival  the  world  has  ever 
seen. 

The  Churches  have  been  settling  down  into  snug  and 
smug  and  respectable  societies  for  preserving  the  pre- 
served, instead  of  being  aggressive  missionary  socie- 
ties going  out  to  seek  and  save  the  lost,  lost  within 
sight  of  the  churches! 

The  wealthy  congregation  engages  a  missionary  and 
sends  him  on  a  bread  and  butter  salary  to  work  in  the 
slums.  He  goes  down  among  the  outcasts  and  teaches 
half  starved,  half  naked,  filthy  little  children  to  sing, 

"There  is  a  happy  land  far,  far  away." 

If  the  people  in  that  congregation  would  work  per- 
sonally, and  not  by  deputy,  they  would  come  to  realise 
the  problem  of  the  slum  in  such  a  way  that  they  would 
rise  in  all  their  wealth  and  social  prestige  and  religious 
fervour  and  form  a  public  opinion  that  would  solve 
the  problem,  and  let  the  little  children  see  and  enjoy 
the  "happy  land"  here  and  now.  We  thank  God  for  all 
those  who  pray  and  act  as  they  pray;  for  all  those 

200 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

who  sing  with  all  their  heart  and  act  as  they  sing; 
for  all  those  who  taste  sermons  and  go  out  with  the 
messages  of  the  sermons  to  the  world;  and  for  all  those 
who  can  and  do  enjoy  intellectual  treats  and  go  and 
reduce  these  intellectual  things  to  the  simplicity  that 
can  be  understood  by  the  unlearned  among  whom  they 
labour  much  in  love.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these 
people  of  God  who  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  is  there 
not  room  for  some  questions  like  the  following : — 
How  many  thousands  sing, 

"Rescue  the  perishing,  care  for  the  dying, 
Snatch  them  in  pity  from  sin  and  the  grave." 

How  many  of  those  who  sing  these  words  go  out  to 
rescue  the  perishing,  to  care  for  the  dying,  snatching 
them  in  pity  from  sin  and  the  grave  ?  Can  those  who 
sing  these  words,  and  do  nothing,  not  be  taught  the 
ritualism  recommended  by  St.  James?  Go  and  Do 
Something!  Then,  what  thousands  sing, 

"Onward   Christian  soldiers, 
Marching  as  to  war." 

And  how  many  of  those  thousands  go  out  of  the 
church  and  lie  behind  the  baggage  all  the  week,  afraid 
to  take  or  make  any  stand  for  Jesus  or  to  venture 
forth  against  the  enemy !  I  have  heard  this  hymn  sung 
for  many  years,  and  we  are  not  done  marching  yet! 
Indeed,  it  seems  as  if  the  march  was  hardly  organised 
yet.  But  when  is  the  WAR  to  begin?  Is  the  enemy 
in  sight  yet?  If  he  is  in  sight,  and  surely  he  is,  then 
why  all  this  marching?  Is  it  not  nearly  time  the 
fighting  had  begun?  Had  the  Rev.  S.  Baring  Gould 
a  drop  of  sarcasm  on  the  point  of  his  pen  when  he 
wrote  the  second  line  of  his  hymn?  Are  we  march- 
ing to  war?  Or  are  we  merely  "marching  as  to 
war"?  Is  it  a  case  of  BLUFF?  Is  the  Church  in 
earnest?  If  she  is  why  does  she  sing, 

201 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"Stand  up,  stand  up,  for  Jesus, 

The   strife    will   not    be    long; 
This  day  the  noise  of  battle, 
The  next  the  victor's  song." 

What  noise  of  battle  is  there  to-day?  Is  it  not  the 
still  small  voice  of  a  whispering  compromise  we  hear  ? 
The  strife  has  not  yet  begun  in  earnest.  How  is  it 
that  the  strife  will  not  be  long?  Where  do  we  hear 
the  song  of  the  victor  who  is  more  than  conqueror 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world?  Why 
is  it  that  there  are  so  many  misgivings  about  the  "vic- 
tory" of  Christianity  even  in  professedly  Christian 
lands  ? 

How  many  thousands  in  our  churches  sing, 

"I  LOVE  TO  TELL  THE  STORY," 

and  how  many  of  those  thousands  never  open  their 
lips  to  tell  the  story  they  sing  they  LOVE  to  tell? 

How  many  thousands  of  Churchgoers  are  quite  con- 
tent to  sing, 

"Lord,  Thou  hast  here  Thy  ninety  and  nine; 
Are  they  not  enough  for  Thee?" 

If  they  do  not  mean  this  by  their  words,  do  they  not 
show  that  they  mean  this  by  their  action,  or,  rather, 
INACTION  ?  Imagine  any  mother  who  has  ten  chil- 
dren, and  one  of  them  is  a  lovely  girl  walking  the 
streets  of  Chicago,  "far  off  from  the  gates  of  gold" 
that  open  to  the  family  circle  in  a  Christian  home. 
Imagine  some  other  woman  coming  to  that  mother  to 
comfort  her  by  saying,  "Sure,  you  have  here  nine  of 
your  children.  Are  they  not  enough  for  you?"  Could 
a  more  damnable  insult  be  cast  into  the  face  of  mother- 
hood ?  And  yet,  how  many  churchgoers  by  their  inac- 
tion throw  that  insult  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ! 

202 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

How  many  thousands  of  Churchgoers  kneel  down 
and  pray, 

"Thy  Kingdom  come" 

They  pray  "Thy  kingdom  come"  with  their  lips  on 
Sunday,  and  on  Monday  they  set  their  teeth  against 
the  Kingdom's  coming. 

I  venture  to  say  that  the  great  obstacle  to  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Christian  Church  to-day  is  not  the  drink- 
traffic;  it  is  not  white  slavery;  it  is  not  gambling;  it 
is  not  any  specific  presumptuous  sin:  THE  GREAT- 
EST OBSTACLE  TO  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE 
CHARIOT  WHEELS  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF 
GOD  IS  THE  ABSOLUTE  INDIFFERENCE  OF 
THE  MAJORITY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  IN  THE 
CHURCHES. 

I  venture  to  say  that  about  seven-tenths  of  the 
people  in  the  churches,  apart  from  singing  and  praying 
and  listening  to  sermons,  are  indifferent  to  the  world's 
salvation.  Most  of  them  think  of  their  own  selfish 
salvation,  and  as  long  as  they  think  they  can  get 
into  heaven  by  the  skin  of  their  own  teeth,  they  are 
inclined  to  let  the  rest  of  their  creed  run  like,  "let  the 
devil  take  the  hindmost." 

I  venture  to  say  that  if  churchgoers  acted  as  they 
sing  and  pray  the  world  would  be  turned  upside  down 
in  a  generation. 

I  venture  to  say  that  the  most  awful  statement  I  ever 
heard  was  this,  repeated  by  a  great  and  good  minister 
in  England  at  a  missionary  conference,  "Some  time 
ago  a  Chinese  gentleman  said  he  did  not  want  his  son 
to  become  a  Christian,  and  he  thought  the  best  way  to 
prevent  him  from  becoming  a  Christian  was  to  send 
him  to  a  Christian  country,  for  there  he  would  see 
such  things  tolerated  in  the  name  of  Christianity  as 
would  prevent  him  from  ever  thinking  of  changing  his 
creed." 

203 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

I  venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  much  encourage- 
ment in  our  Christian  civilisation  to  the  heathen  na- 
tions to  accept  our  civilisation,  when  they  see  our 
saloons  and  slums,  and  know  all  about  our  white  slav- 
ery and  all  about  the  ten  thousand  abominations  that 
are  associated  with  our  drink-traffic. 

I  venture  to  say  that  the  best  way  to  accomplish 
missionary  work  abroad  is  to  purify  our  Christian 
civilisation  at  home.  If  the  Christian  people  and 
churchgoers  at  home  would  go  out  to  seek  and  save 
the  lost,  to  rescue  the  perishing  and  to  care  for  the 
dying,  and,  by  self-sacrifice,  come  to  an  understanding 
of  the  causes  of  all  the  abominations  with  which  our 
civilisation  is  cursed,  they  would  rise  and  form  such 
a  public  opinion  as  would  remove  these  causes  in  a 
"strife"  that  would  "not  be  long."  If  churchgoers 
who  profess  the  Name  of  Christ  would  show  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  by  going  out  to  save  the  fallen  in  a  great 
campaign  of  Good  Samaritanship,  and,  by  so  doing, 
solve  the  drink  problem,  drive  immorality  from  our 
streets,  remove  the  slums,  and  make  our  Christian  civ- 
ilisation what  it  ought  to  be  and  can  be,  there  would 
be  such  a  revolution  at  home  as  the  world  has  never 
seen,  and  the  heathen  nations  would  come  flocking 
to  us  and  saying,  "If  this  thing  called  Christianity 
can  do  this  for  these  people,  if  it  can  make  them  so 
happy,  so  pure,  so  clean,  so  moral,  so  quite  unlike  and 
so  far  ahead  of  all  the  rest  of  the  people  in  the  world, 
then  THIS  IS  THE  THING  FOR  US.  WE  CAN- 
NOT AFFORD  TO  BE  WITHOUT  THIS  THING 
CALLED  CHRISTIANITY."  It  is  the  spirit  of  sac- 
rifice that  can  do  this  thing  for  our  civilisation, — Chris- 
tian self-sacrifice.  And  when  that  Spirit  is  manifested 
by  those  who  profess  the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ,  then 
will  be  fulfilled  the  words  of  Jesus,  "And  I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  My- 
self." It  is  for  the  Church  to  lift  up  Jesus  Christ  by 
shewing  the  world  His  Spirit  of  Self-sacrifice.  And 

204 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

every  one  who  shews  that  spirit  by  going  down  among 
the  fallen  and  the  outcast  is  doing  his  part  in  purifying 
our  Christian  society,  and  in  helping  to  form  that 
public  opinion  that  will  rise  and  by  one  fell  sweep 
brush  from  before  our  eyes  those  licensed  evils  that 
have  so  long  been  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  God  and  a 
stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  the  heathen  to  the  heart 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  churches  must  set  in  motion  and  keep  in  motion 
the  machinery  for  the  formation  of  public  opinion. 
They  are  in  the  world  to  do  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ; 
and  the  world  looks  to  them  for  Good  Samaritanship. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  many  people  in  all  the 
churches  are  doing  splendid  work  in  lifting  the  fallen 
and  bringing  in  the  outcast,  and  that  many  congre- 
gations are  so  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ 
that  they  devote  their  best  energies  to  missionary 
work  at  home  and  abroad.  At  the  same  time  it  can- 
not be  denied  that  the  great  majority  of  churchgoers 
take  but  little  interest  in  the  solution  of  the  ugly  social 
problems  lying  about  our  very  church  doors. 

If  you  ask  the  members  of  our  churches:  "What 
do  you  go  to  church  for?"  some  will  answer;  "I  go 
to  church  to  worship  God."  Others  will  give  other 
answers.  But  most  people  will  say:  "I  go  to  church 
to  get  good."  I  have  been  hearing  church-going  peo- 
ple say  this  all  through  my  ministry,  and  I  often  won- 
der what  in  all  the  world  people  do  with  all  the  good 
they  get.  They  go  to  church  to  "get  good"  and  they 
blame  the  minister  if  he  preaches  "too  long";  and, 
possibly,  once  in  a  while  he  is  blamed  if  he  preaches 
"too  short."  Then  the  elders  and  deacons  and  church- 
wardens and  class-leaders  are  blamed  if  there  is  a 
church  draught.  And  who  ever  heard  of  a  church 
without  a  draught?  Men  go  home  and  talk  for  a 
whole  week  about  the  evil  effects  of  that  draught  on 
the  backs  of  their  heads,  but  they  never  say  a  word 
about  the  effect  of  the  sermon  on  their  hearts.  Why? 

205 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

Because  it  is  difficult  to  talk  of  a  thing  that  does  not 
exist.  We  all  know  how,  when  the  minister  is  shooting 
shafts  of  truth  from  the  pulpit  to  pierce  the  hearts 
of  the  people  with  the  sense  of  individual  responsi- 
bility, the  instinct  of  self-preservation  goes  out  in  front 
of  almost  every  person  in  the  pews.  That  instinct 
takes  the  form  of  a  double-sided  shield.  The  first 
shaft  hits  the  right  side  of  the  shield  and  glints  off 
to  the  right.  The  second  shaft  hits  the  left  side  and 

flints  off  to  the  left,  while  the  person  behind  the  shield 
ollows  those  shafts  to  the  hearts  of  his  neighbours, 
and  he  says :    "Now  they  are  getting  it !    The  minister 
is  touching  them  up  now!     Oh,  isn't  he  giving  it  to 
them  to-day?" 

I  was  going  down  the  street  with  a  County  Antrim 
elder  one  Sunday  after  the  morning  service.  He  said : 

"You  had  some  plain  talk  in  your  sermon  to-day." 

"I  suppose  I  had,"  I  answered. 

"Yes,  and  do  you  know,"  he  added:  "there  were 
a  great  many  people  there  to-day  who  were  badly  in 
need  of  it." 

All  the  time  I  was  talking  "plainly"  in  the  sermon, 
that  elder  was  sitting  in  the  pew  behind  his  little  shield 
saying:  "Now  they  are  getting  it;  now  they  are 
getting  it!"  And  when  an  elder  says  so,  one  can  ex- 
cuse an  ordinary  body! 

"What  good  do  I  do  on  Monday  with  the  good  I 
get  in  church  on  Sunday?"  is  a  question  worthy  of 
the  earnest  attention  of  all  church  goers,  especially  of 
communicants.  Most  people  who  go  to  church  ac- 
knowledge that  they  are  Christians.  If  any  of  them 
was  told  he  was  not  a  Christian  he  would  probably  say : 
"Don't  insult  me!"  A  Christian  is  a  Christ-one,  one 
who  follows  in  the  steps  of  Christ.  A  fair  test  of  one's 
Christianity  might  be  made  by  each  church  goer  ask- 
ing himself  or  herself  on  Saturday  night  such  ques- 
tions as  these :  "I  went  to  church  last  Sunday  to  get 
good: 

206 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

"(i)  Did  I,  a  professed  follower  of  Christ,  LIFT 
UP  a  fallen  brother  or  sister  during  the  past  six  days? 

"(2)  Did  I,  a  professed  follower  of  Christ,  TRY 
TO  LIFT  UP  a  fallen  brother  or  sister  during  the 
past  six  days? 

u('\)Did  I,  a  professed  follower  of  Christ,  during 
the  past  six  days,  EVEN  PRAY  THAT  I  MIGHT 
BE  ENABLED  TO  LIFT  UP  OR  TO  TRY  TO 
LIFT  UP  a  fallen  brother  or  sister  F 

These  questions  must  be  answered  some  day.  On 
"that  day,33  when  we  all  stand  before  the  Great  White 
Throne,  no  church  member  will  be  able  to  cast  his 
personal  responsibility  on  to  the  shoulders  of  other 
people.  There  will  be  no  shuffling  on  that  day,  and 
it  would  be  better  for  us  to  square  with  God  to-day  by 
doing  our  duty  than  have  God  to  square  with  us  on 
that  day  after  we  have  failed  to  do  our  duty. 

Our  Lord  went  to  church  on  Sundays.  "As  His 
custom  was  He  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sab- 
bath day."  He  got  good  there.  Heaven  was  about 
Him  there  on  the  Sabbath  day.  He  went  away  into 
the  desert  alone  with  The  Infinite  Purity,  and  He  got 
good  there.  He  went  up  the  mountains  apart  to  pray, 
and  He  got  good  there.  But,  what  did  He  do  with 
the  good  He  got?  That  is  the  question  for  Chris- 
tians. 

He  came  out  of  the  synagogue;  back  from  the  des- 
ert; down  from  the  mountain;  and  He  went  away 
down  into  the  valleys  of  sin  and  shame  and  debauchery 
and  death  that  He  might  DO  GOOD.  He  went  about 
doing  good.  He  could  talk  well.  Never  man  spake 
like  this  Man.  But  He  practised  what  He  preached. 
He  never  walked  on  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance. 
If  He  talked  well  He  did  all  things  well,  and  left  us  an 
example  that  we  might  follow  IN  HIS  STEPS. 

If  any  church  goer  has  not  the  spirit  of  Christ  he 
is  none  of  His.  We  may  go  to  church  on  Sunday  to 
get  good,  and  to  sing  our  psalms  and  hymns  and 

207 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

spiritual  songs;  to  criticise  the  ministers  and  taste  the 
sermons;  to  test  draughts  and  draw  long  faces,  and 
to  say,  "Lord,  Lord/'  but  if  we  consider  church  at- 
tendance and  public  religious  ceremony  as  ends  and 
not  as  means,  they  are  mere  ritual.  The  ceremonial 
of  public  worship  is  very  necessary,  but  it  has  to  be 
kept  in  its  place  as  only  one  of  the  ways  we  try  to 
express  our  religion;  it  must  not  be  put  in  the  place 
of  religion.  If  we  spend  our  religious  energies  in 
religious  ceremonial  and  let  life's  opportunities  for 
service  pass  by,  it  is  possible  the  church's  Lord  will 
say  to  us  on  that  day :  "You  spent  your  time  in  calling 
Me,  Lord,  Lord,  but  you  did  not  the  things  which  I 
said,  for,  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least 
of  these,  My  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  to  Me.  Depart 
from  Me;  I  never  knew  you." 

I  am  sure  there  never  were  more  Good  Samaritans 
in  the  world  than  there  are  to-day.  There  never  was 
a  greater  desire  in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity to  save  the  fallen  than  there  is  to-day.  But 
there  is  not  yet  so  much  of  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
in  our  churches  as  is  necessary  to  save  the  country 
as  we  desire  it  to  be  saved.  Our  church  gathers  at 
the  Communion  Table  to  show  forth  there  the  Lord's 
sacrifice  till  He  come.  But  while  so  many  of  us  who 
show  forth  His  sacrifice  at  the  table  go  from  the  table 
and  show  no  sacrifice  of  ourselves,  it  is  no  wonder  the 
Lord  is  so  long  in  coming. 

God  says:  "I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice." 
He  cannot  away  with  our  sacrifices  in  church  if  they 
are  mere  ceremonies.  How  can  He  accept  our  sacri- 
fices of  praise  and  prayer  in  church,  if  on  our  way  to 
church  we  refuse  to  show  mercy?  If  I  saw  my  neigh- 
bour's beast  in  a  ditch  when  on  my  way  to  church  I 
believe  I  could  keep  the  Sabbath  better  by  stopping 
to  show  mercy  at  the  ditch  than  by  going  on  to  the 
altar  to  pray.  And,  if  I  must  feel  constrained  to  give 

208 


WHAT    ARE    CHURCHGOERS    DOING? 

attention  to  my  neighbour's  beast,  how  can  I  dare  to 
stand  before  God  if  I  pass  by  my  neighbour's  self? 

The  Church  has  science  on  her  side,  and  the  sense  of 
brotherhood,  sisterhood,  fatherhood,  motherhood.  She 
has  the  sense  of  an  invincible  right  on  her  side.  She 
has  the  sense  of  having  tolerated  this  licensed  curse 
long  enough,  too  long,  on  her  side.  She  has  the  sense 
of  the  vision  of  a  new  era  on  her  side.  And  with  all 
these  on  our  side,  we  can,  by  the  example  of  Jesus  and 
the  inspiration  of  His  Spirit,  arise  and  weld  and  pum- 
mel and  shape  a  public  opinion  which  nothing  can  stand 
against.  Public  opinion  is  sometimes  misguided  and 
sometimes  impulsive,  but  finally  it  finds  the  path  which 
is  eminently  right,  and  then,  in  a  God-given  zeal,  it  can 
sweep  all  opposition  before  it  and  claim  the  community 
for  purity  of  life. 


209 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 
A  WORD  TO  THE  MODERATE  DRINKER 

I  HAVE  said  in  another  place  that  the  Moderate  Drinker 
is  the  greatest  curse  in  the  country,  as  far  as  this 
drink  problem  is  concerned.  If  I  were  a  saloon-keeper 
I  should  not  wish  to  have  queues  of  drunkards  about 
my  bar  door.  They  would  disgrace  me  and  my  trade. 
But  I  should  like  to  have  crowds  of  moderate  drinkers 
about  my  door.  A  moderate  drinker  is  one  who  can 
take  a  little  drop  now,  and  a  little  drop  again,  and  an- 
other little  drop  at  another  time,  and  two  or  three 
other  little  drops  at  two  or  three  other  little  times, 
and  yet  never  appear  under  the  influence  of  drink  or 
get  into  the  hands  of  the  police.  This  man  is  the 
mainstay  of  the  drink  trade.  Every  time  he  goes  into 
a  bar  and  orders  a  drink,  and  pays  for  it,  he  is  doing 
his  part  to  keep  on  its  feet  financially  the  greatest  curse 
that  walks  our  streets.  He  gives  his  moral  support 
to  the  greatest  instrument  of  immorality  in  the  land. 
He  makes  it  possible  for  the  curse  to  continue  its 
temptations  to  the  unwary  and  its  destruction  of  those 
who  are  already  in  its  clutches. 

But  the  Moderate  Drinker  says,  "I'll  not  be  muzzled. 
Why  should  I  put  a  muzzle  on  my  mouth?  I  don't 
believe  in  pledges."  A  good  dog  is  worth  muzzling 
when  there  is  poison  about.  No  one  is  anxious  about 
a  mongrel  pup.  I  should  like  to  place  every  man  in 
the  category  of  the  "good  dogs"  that  are  worth  sav- 
ing. When  I  was  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  I  heard 
men  say  they  did  not  believe  in  being  muzzled.  But 

210 


A    WORD    TO    THE    DRINKER 

they  are  muzzled  to-day.  Their  muzzles  measure  six 
feet  by  three,  for  they  are  in  drunkards'  graves ! 

When  a  man  asks  a  girl  to  be  his  wife  he  asks  her 
to  take  a  pledge,  and  he  takes  a  pledge  at  the  same 
time  himself.  If  a  man  takes  a  pledge  to  be  true  and 
faithful  to  one  woman,  and  plights  his  troth  in  the 
most  public  way  at  the  marriage  altar,  he  cannot  excuse 
himself  from  taking  another  pledge,  the  keeping  of 
which  will  help  him  to  be  more  faithful  to  the  one 
he  took  on  his  marriage  day. 

The  Moderate  Drinker  excuses  his  moderation  by 
saying  that  he  drinks  for  the  good  of  his  country,  as 
it  is  necessary  to  derive  revenue  from  the  drink  trade 
to  run  the  finances  of  the  country.  But  apart  alto- 
gether from  the  financial  aspect  of  the  question,  and 
the  fact  that  the  country  spends  much  more  on  dealing 
with  the  results  of  drink  than  she  derives  from  the  sale 
of  it,  the  moderate  drinker  should  be  honest  and  con- 
fess that  he  does  not  drink  because  he  loves  his  coun- 
try, but  simply  because  he  loves  the  drink.  He  never 
thought  of  the  benefit  his  drink  was  to  the  country 
when  he  was  at  the  bar.  His  only  regret  was  that  his 
throat  was  not  about  a  mile  and  a  half  long  that  he 
might  have  enjoyed  the  drink  all  the  more  while  it  was 
going  down.  The  moderate  drinker  does  not  drink 
for  the  revenue  of  his  country,  but  for  the  revenue 
of  hell.  Isaiah  says  regarding  the  drinkers,  "There- 
fore hell  hath  enlarged  herself  and  opened  her  mouth 
without  measure :  and  their  glory  and  their  multitude 
and  their  pomp,  and  he  that  rejoiceth  shall  descend 
into  it."  The  moderate  drinker  is  a  drunkard  in  the 
making,  and  no  drunkard  shall  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

The  Moderate  Drinker  says,  "But,  you  see,  I  can 
take  it  or  let  it  alone."  I  have  heard  many  men  say 
this  who  are  in  drunkards'  graves  to-day.  The  moder- 
ate drinker  thinks  he  is  playing  with  the  drink,  while 
it  is  really  the  drink  that  is  playing  with  him.  When 

211 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

a  man  says,  "I  can  take  it  or  let  it  alone,' '  and  if  he 
keeps  on  taking  it,  we  know  that  the  first  part  of  his 
statement  is  true.  But  what  about  the  second  part  of 
it?  If  he  would  only  let  it  alone  we  should  then  know 
that  he  could  let  it  alone ;  but  when  he  keeps  on  taking 
it  we  begin  to  think  that  it  has  so  fascinated  him  he 
cannot  let  it  alone.  To  every  drinker  who  says,  "I  can 
let  it  alone,"  I  say,  "Well,  let  it  alone  and  then  I'll  know 
that  you  CAN" 

The  Moderate  Drinker  says,  "I  take  only  a  little 
drop."  Well,  then,  moderate  drinker,  it  will  be  all 
the  lesser  sacrifice  if  you  give  it  up.  I  have  great 
sympathy  with  heavy  drinkers  who  are  asked  to  take 
the  pledge.  It  must  be  a  terrible  wrench  to  them,  from 
the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  sole  of  their  feet,  to 
give  up  the  drink  and  conquer  the  craving  for  it.  It 
is  indeed  a  sacrifice  that  means  blood.  But  I  have  no 
sympathy  with  the  drinker  who  says  he  takes  only  a 
little  drop  and  who  has  not  the  manliness  to  make  the 
sacrifice  of  that  little  drop,  for  the  sake  of  a  wife, 
or  a  mother,  or  a  daughter,  or  a  son,  or  a  father,  or  a 
lover.  And  I  would  advise  every  girl,  when  asked  to 
become  a  wife,  to  ask  her  suitor  if  he  is  a  total  ab- 
stainer. If  he  says  he  is  not,  she  should  ask  him  to 
give  up  the  glass  for  her  sake.  He  will  then  have  to 
choose  between  his  glass  and  his  girl,  and  if  he  will  not 
give  up  the  glass  for  his  girl's  sake,  and  at  her  request, 
he  will  show  that  he  loves  his  glass  better  than  he  loves 
his  girl,  and  she  should  have  nothing  to  do  with  him. 
I  have  known  many  girls  who  ventured  to  marry  mod- 
erate drinkers  in  the  hope  of  weaning  them  from  the 
drink,  and  those  girls  found  hell  at  their  firesides  be- 
fore they  were  long  in  the  married  life. 

I  would  appeal  to  the  moderate  drinker  to  give  up 
the  little  drop  lest  that  little  drop  might  lead  to  a 
great  drop  on  the  part  of  another.  You,  a  moderate 
drinker,  meet  a  young  fellow  in  the  street.  You  knew 
his  father.  You  ask  him  to  come  with  you  to  have  a 

212 


A    WORD    TO    THE    DRINKER 

talk  over  "old  times."  He  goes  with  you,  and  he  finds 
you  are  bringing  him  into  a  saloon.  He  hesitates  at 
the  door  and  says  he  does  not  go  into  such  places. 
But  you  urge  him.  He  still  holds  back,  for  he  feels  as 
if  some  one  was  tugging  at  the  collar  of  his  jacket  and 
urging  him  not  to  go  in.  He  hears  his  father's  voice 
saying,  "Don't  go  in!  Don't  go  in!"  But  you  still 
urge  him,  and  again  he  hesitates,  for  he  hears  the 
yearning  voice  of  his  mother  saying  into  his  ear, 
"Don't  go  in!  Oh!  My  boy,  my  boy,  don't  go  in. 
Don't  go  in!"  But  you  still  induce  him.  You  SE- 
DUCE him  in.  He  goes  in.  You  and  he  sit  down,  and 
you  ask  him,  "What  will  you  have?"  He  says,  "A 
bottle  of  lemonade."  You  say,  "Oh,  don't  talk  non- 
sense; take  something  stronger."  He  says,  "But,  I 
am  a  total  abstainer."  You  say,  "Oh,  come  along! 
None  of  your  old  wives'  talk.  Take  a  dram  like  the 
rest  of  us  and  be  a  MAN."  You  drop  that  insidious 
temptation  into  his  ear  and  heart.  He  has  come  from 
the  country  side  and  he  begins  to  think  it  is  a  sign 
of  manhood  in  the  city  to  take  a  drop  like  the  rest  of 
them.  He  falls  before  that  appeal  to  his  manhood,  and 
you  order  his  drink.  He  takes  from  YOUR  HAND 
his  FIRST  DRINK.  That  first  drink  sets  a-going 
within  him  the  fires  of  hell,  arouses  a  craving  for 
drink  he  may  have  inherited  from  his  grandfather. 
He  begins  there  and  then  to  go  down  the  inclined  plane 
of  a  drinker's  life.  He  goes  down  with  rattling  glee 
to  the  drunkard's  stage.  He  comes  to  the  end  of  the 
drunkard's  career,  and  drops  into  a  drunkard's  grave. 
You  stand  at  his  grave  side  and  see  his  remains  cov- 
ered in  the  earth.  How  do  you  feel  ?  Do  you  think  ? 
Do  you  remember  ?  Had  you  anything  to  do  with  the 
digging  of  that  grave?  Have  you  finished  with  him 
now?  Is  the  transaction  quite  completed?  ^  Will 
you  ever  hear  any  more  of  that  young  man  in  the 
drunkard's  grave?  You  must  stand  before  the  Great 
White  Throne.  The  Judge  will  be  on  the  throne. 

213 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

And  a  man's  lost  soul  will  be  there,  the  soul  that  you 
seduced  at  the  saloon.  That  man  will  square  you  up 
before  the  throne.  He  will  look  at  you  with  a  lost 
soul's  eyes.  He  will  point  at  you  with  his  finger. 
He  will  say  to  you  with  a  voice  that  will  be  hell  in 
your  ears,  "WOE,  WOE  unto  him  that  putteth  the 
bottle  to  his  neighbour's  lips !  It  was  you,  you ;  you ! ! ! 
YOU ! ! ! !  YOU ! ! ! ! !  who  first  put  the  bottle  to  my  lips 
and  set  a-going  these  flames  of  hell  within  me.  It 
was  through  YOU  that  I  was  led  to  take  the  first  step 
that  led  me  to  a  drunkard's  life,  a  drunkard's  grave, 
and  a  drunkard's  doom,  and  I  have  come  up  from  the 
depths  of  hell's  perdition  to  square  you  up  before  the 
Great  White  Throne  to-day,  and  to  look  into  your  face 
and  call  you,  damned!  damned!!  DAMNED!!!" 

Moderate  drinker!  Are  you  prepared  to  face 
THAT  music  on  the  great  day  ?  Will  you  not  give  up 
your  little  drop,  lest  it  may  lead  to  a  great  drop  down 
to  perdition  on  the  part  of  a  friend  or  the  son  of  a 
friend  ? 

The  Son  of  God  "poured  out  His  soul  unto  death" 
for  you.  Will  you  not  pour  out  that  "little  drop" 
and  sacrifice  that  much  for  Him  and  for  your  brother, 
for  whom  also  Christ  died? 


214 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 
BROOKS  BY  THE  WAY 

I  AM  continually  being  asked  by  ministers  and  others, 
"When  are  you  going  back  to  the  ministry  ?  Are  you 
not  tired  of  this  going  about  and  being  away  so  much 
from  home  ?  Would  it  not  be  better  for  you  to  settle 
down  in  a  parish  again?" 

In  answer  to  these  queries  I  say,  I.  I  never  left  the 
ministry.  I  simply  entered  a  larger  ministry  when  I 
left  Armagh.  2.  I  am  tired  of  going  about.  It  is  a 
terrible  drudgery.  I  hate  it.  It  is  very  lonely  to  have 
none  of  one^s  own  dear  ones  near  for  about  ten  months 
in  the  year.  I  long  for  home  as  much  as  any  man 
ever  did.  But  if  I  gave  up  this  work  I  should  be  laying 
down  my  cross.  If  my  being  tired  of  being  always  on 
the  road  is  the  means  of  bringing  some  wanderer  back 
to  home  from  the  broad  road,  I  cannot  take  rest,  lest 
resting  might  mean  failing  to  save  men  and  to  make 
happy  firesides.  3.  If  I  settled  down  as  a  parish  min- 
ister I  should  be  choosing  what  appears  to  me,  at 
any  rate,  the  path  of  primroses  as  compared  with  my 
present  path  of  thorns.  I  believe  that  if  I  came  to  the 
fork  in  the  road,  and  chose  to  go  by  the  path  of  prim- 
roses, all  power  of  conveying  blessing  to  men  would 
there  and  then  leave  me,  and  the  remainder  of  my  life 
would  be  a  failure.  I  could  not  expect  Him,  Who 
took  up  His  Cross,  to  accompany  me  if  I  laid  down  my 
cross.  Therefore  I  cannot  see  how,  with  a  good  con- 
science, I  could  go  back  to  a  settled  pastorate. 

I  should  have  no  hesitation  in  going  back,   if 
thought  my  call  to  my  present  work  had  come  to  an 

215 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

end.     But  that  it  has  not  come  to  an  end  will  appear 
from  some  experiences  I  give  here. 

Nearly  everywhere  I  go  I  am  told  how  helpful  my 
message  is.  At  the  close  of  every  meeting  I  address  in 
America  I  receive  such  testimonies  as  to  encourage  me 
wonderfully  to  persevere.  Many  good  folk  who  at- 
tend to  their  religious  duties  as  church  goers  have 
testified  and  still  testify  of  the  stimulus  my  words  have 
been  and  are  to  them  in  going  out  to  do  good. 

A  young  lady  told  me  recently  that  she  never  did  any 
definite  Christian  work  till  she  heard  me  speak.  She 
then  went  out  on  fire  to  do  something  for  her  fallen 
brothers  and  sisters,  and,  so  earnest  did  she  become 
in  the  work,  her  friends  said  she  was  "Catch-my-Pal 
mad."  She  has  been  the  means  of  doing  wonderful 
things  in  her  neighbourhood. 

One  night  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  a  lady  came  to 
me  and  said,  "I  am  going  away  from  this  meeting  per- 
fectly miserable."  And  when  I  asked  her  why  she 
said  so  she  answered,  "Till  I  heard  you  to-night  I 
thought  I  was  doing  all  that  was  necessary  when  I 
went  regularly  to  church  and  attended  to  the  services. 
But  now  I  see  how  selfish  I  have  been,  and  how  many 
opportunities  of  doing  good  I  have  allowed  to  slip. 
And  when  I  think  of  all  that  I  might  have  done  and  of 
how  little  I  have  done,  I  am  going  away  perfectly 
miserable."  I  said  to  her,  "Well,  madam,  I  am  glad  to 
hear  that  you  are  perfectly  miserable,  for  I  go  on  the 
platform  to  make  people  feel  perfectly  miserable  till 
they  go  out  to  do  something  to  lift  up  their  fallen 
brothers  and  sisters.  And  I  am  going  away  perfectly 
happy  because  you  are  going  away  perfectly  miserable ; 
and  I  hope  you  will  go  and  work  off  your  misery  by 
trying  to  make  up  for  lost  opportunities."  She  said 
she  would  try,  and  we  parted. 

Experiences  such  as  these  greatly  encourage  me  to 
go  on  with  the  Catch-my-Pal  crusade.  But  I  have 
greater  encouragements  than  these. 

216 


BROOKS    BY    THE    WAY 

I  was  going  along  the  street  one  Sunday  morning 
to  preach  in  a  church  in  Londonderry.  A  young  man 
accosted  me  with  a  hearty  "Good  morning,  Mr.  Pat- 
terson." I  asked  him  how  he  knew  me.  He  said  that 
he  had  been  at  the  first  meeting  I  held  in  Derry,  and 
that  he  signed  the  pledge  that  night.  I  asked  him 
if  he  had  been  a  drunkard,  and  he  said,  "No,  I  was  not 
a  drunkard,  but,  judging  by  the  way  I  was  drinking  it 
would  not  have  been  long  till  I'd  have  been  a  drunk- 
ard. I  have  taken  no  drink  since  I  signed  at  your  meet- 
ing three  years  ago." 

I  walked  down  the  street  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards.  An  old  stooped  man  met  me.  He  said, 
"Good  morning,  your  reverence."  And  I  said,  "How 
do  you  know  me?"  He  looked  up  at  me,  and  with  a 
tremor  in  his  voice  he  said,  "I  have  a  good  right  to 
know  you.  My  wife  and  I  signed  the  pledge  at  your 
first  meeting  in  Derry  three  years  ago."  I  asked  if 
they  had  been  drinkers,  and  he  said  they  were  both 
heavy  drinkers,  but  had  taken  no  drink  for  three 
years."  The  love  of  God  was  beaming  in  that  old 
man's  eyes. 

I  went  on  about  two  hundred  yards  more.  A  fine 
big  fellow  met  me  and  addressed  me  by  my  name. 
He  too,  strange  to  say,  said  he  signed  the  pledge  at 
my  first  meeting  in  Derry  three  years  before.  I  asked 
him  if  he  had  been  a  drinker.  He  said,  "Drinker! 
I  think  I  was  a  drinker!  I  was  one  of  the  biggest 
drunkards  that  ever  walked  the  streets  of  Derry,  and 
I  have  never  tasted  drink  since  I  signed  your  pledge 
three  years  ago."  Then,  with  great  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  his  voice  almost  choked  with  emotion,  he  added, 
"And,  your  reverence,  I  could  not  even  begin  to  tell 
you  all  that  my  pledge  means  for  my  wife  and  my 
children." 

Need  I  say  that  I  felt  inspired  to  go  into  the  pulpit 
to  preach  that  day  as  perhaps  I  never  felt  before, 
question  if  there  was  a  minister  in  Ireland  who  had 

217 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

such  encouragement  as  I  met  with  in  a  seemingly  ac- 
cidental way  that  day  on  the  footpath  on  my  way  to 
church. 

One  day  I  met  a  gentleman  in  Belfast  who  told  me 
that  over  a  hundred  of  the  drunkards  in  his  small 
town  were  on  their  feet  through  this  movement.  And 
just  a  short  while  before  I  came  to  America  I  ad- 
dressed a  meeting  in  a  town  in  county  Antrim.  When 
I  sat  down  the  secretary  of  the  branch  got  up  to  make 
some  announcements.  He  was  a  young  professional 
man  in  good  standing,  but  had  been  going  down  in 
drink.  He  had  been  saved  by  this  movement  and  was 
not  ashamed  to  acknowledge  this  fact  in  the  most  pub- 
lic way.  He  said,  "There  are  at  least  one  hundred 
of  us,  the  greatest  drunkards  of  this  town,  who  have 
been  saved  by  Catch-my-Pal,  and  we  can  point  to  this 
man  on  the  platform  to-night  as,  in  the  hand  of  God, 
our  earthly  saviour/'  I  never  was  so  proud  in  my  life 
as  I  was  then,  and  at  the  same  time  I  never  felt  so 
humbled,  when  I  thought  that  God,  in  His  goodness, 
permitted  such  a  statement  to  be  made  about  me. 
But  there  was  something  more  in  store  for  me.  When 
that  secretary  had  made  all  the  announcements  he  came 
over  to  me  at  the  side  of  the  platform  and  said,  "Don't 
go  away  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  meeting,  as 
I  have  something  down  there  near  the  door  that  will 
cheer  you."  When  the  audience  had  dispersed  he 
brought  me  down  towards  the  door.  There  were  three 
or  four  rows  of  men  sitting  there.  They  all  rose  up 
to  receive  me  when  I  came  to  them.  I  asked  them 
to  sit  down,  as  we  were  all  pals  together.  I  talked  to 
each  man,  and  then  I  talked  to  the  "bunch."  When 
they  had  gone  away  my  friend,  the  secretary,  said, 
"Do  you  know,  Mr.  Patterson,  who  those  men  are  that 
you  were  talking  to  ?"  I  said  I  had  no  idea  who  they 
were.  "Well,"  said  he,  "nearly  every  one  of  those 
men  is  a  reformed  gaol-bird,  set  upon  his  feet  by  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement." 

2lS 


BROOKS   BY    THE   WAY 

It  is  not  given  to  every  man  to  receive  such  en- 
couragements as  these,  and  although  the  way  is  long 
and  one's  thirst  for  the  joys  of  home  is  sometimes 
almost  unbearable,  God  provides  these  brooks  by  the 
way,  and  one  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing  that  the  joy  of 
other  homes  than  his  own  is  being  increased  by  his 
wandering  ministry. 


219 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 
WILL  CATCH-MY-PAL  LAST? 

WILL  Catch-my-Pal  last?  This  is  a  question  which 
greatly  troubled  many  people  at  the  beginning  of  the 
movement,  especially  those  who  took  no  active  inter- 
est in  it  to  make  it  a  permanent  success. 

At  one  of  our  earliest  meetings  in  the  schoolroom 
in  Armagh,  I  said  to  the  men:  "Men,  the  saloon- 
keepers of  the  city  are  saying  that  this  thing  will  be 
dead  at  Christmas ;  what  have  you  got  to  say  to  this  ?" 
One  man  said,  "No!"  I  answered  that  that  was  no 
answer  to  come  from  such  a  body  of  men  to  such  a 
vile  insinuation  from  the  publicans,  and  that  I  wanted 
them  to  let  no  uncertain  sound  go  out  from  that  meet- 
ing as  to  what  they  thought  about  the  matter.  "Come, 
now,  men,"  I  -said :  "Is  this  thing  going  to  be  dead  at 
Christmas?"  The  whole  meeting  shouted  a  thunder- 
ing "No!"  And  the  saloon  men  heard  of  it,  and  be- 
gan to  think  that  they  were  perhaps  a  little  premature 
in  their  judgment  of  the  movement.  The  men  "had  a 
mind  to  work."  They  hammered  total  abstinence  into 
the  ribs  of  the  gallant  little  ship  Catch-my-Pal,  which 
weathered  the  Christmas  holidays  in  what  was  con- 
sidered a  wonderful  way  for  such  a  speedily  built  craft. 

The  critics  then  said  the  craft  would  founder  in  the 
General  Election  of  January,  1910,  but  it  rode  on  the 
crest  of  that  wave.  The  prophets  began  again  as 
Easter  and  St.  Patrick's  Day  approached,  but  again 
they  proved  to  be  false  prophets.  They  tried  their 
divinations  again  when  the  I2th  of  July  drew  near, 
but  somehow  the  diviners  were  once  more  disap- 

220 


WILL    CATCH-MY-PAL    LAST? 

pointed.  There  was  another  election  in  December, 
1910,  and  it  was  found  that  the  movement  was  still 
increasing  the  number  of  happy  firesides  at  Christmas. 
The  critics  began  to  find  it  was  their  criticisms  that 
were  foundering,  and  to-day  there  are  living  testi- 
monies all  over  the  United  Kingdom  that  indeed  a 
notable  miracle  has  been  wrought  and  the  critics  can 
say  nothing  against  it. 

I  was  not  so  foolish,  I  hope,  as  to  have  thought  at 
any  time  that  the  first  enthusiasm  would  last.  All 
such  movements  are  well  described  in  words  which  I 
may  here  adapt  for  my  purpose:  "They  shall  mount 
up  with  wings  as  eagles,  they  shall  run  and  not  be 
weary,  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint."  In  many  places 
the  movement  is  still  mounting  up.  In  some  places 
it  is  running.  In  other  places  it  is  walking.  In  some 
places  the  meetings  have  ceased  to  be  held,  but  even 
there  the  result  of  the  meetings  that  were  held  still 
abides  in  redeemed  lives.  For  instance,  a  report  comes 
to  me  to  this  effect :  "We  ran  the  Catch-my-Pal  for 
some  time  as  a  department  of  our  Brotherhood,  and 
although  we  no  longer  hold  distinct  temperance  meet- 
ings on  Catch-my-Pal  lines  I  am  thankful  to  say  that 
your  movement  was  the  means  of  lifting  up  two  great 
drunkards  who,  I  believe,  are  saved  for  all  time." 

Our  Lord  summed  up  His  Galilean  ministry  in  the 
parable  of  The  Sower.  In  every  revival  in  the  history 
of  the  world  there  have  been  four  kinds  of  ground — 
the  wayside,  the  stony,  the  thorny,  and  the  good 
ground.  In  this  revival,  while  there  have  been  way- 
side, stony  and  thorny  grounds,  there  have  been  wide 
stretches  and  far  distances  of  good  ground,  where  as 
many  as  thirty,  sixty,  and,  in  many  cases,  eighty  per 
cent,  of  those  who  took  the  pledge  have  kept  it. 

Many  friends  urged  me  to  publish  the  story  of  the 
movement  within  the  first  year  of  its  existence,  but 
I  thought  it  was  better  to  delay  such  a  publication  till 
some  considerable  time  had  elapsed.  If  I  had  pub- 

221 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

lished  my  story  early  in  the  history  of  the  work  the 
criticism  might  very  justly  have  been  made:  "Oh, 
this  is  a  nine  days'  wonder.  It  won't  last.  These  men 
and  women  who  have  signed  the  pledge  will  not  con- 
tinue to  keep  it."  But  now,  after  almost  five  years 
of  history,  I  am  in  a  position  to  relate  the  stories  of 
lives  found  in  this  book,  lives  that  have  stood  the  test 
and  are  a  standing  testimony  as  to  what  the  Grace 
of  God  has  done  by  the  hand  of  Catch-my-Pal.  As 
I  have  intimated  in  another  chapter,  many  pledges 
have  been  broken;  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  far  more  pledges  have  been  kept  than  even  the 
most  hopeful  of  us  expected,  and  that  I  am  continually 
receiving  news  of  changed  lives  in  Ireland  and  every 
land  the  movement  has  entered  that  makes  my  heart 
almost  cry  aloud  with  joy. 

Will  the  movement  last?  Unselfish  people  who  are 
willing  to  go  out  of  their  way  to  save  a  fallen  brother 
say  it  will  last.  Selfish  people  who  will  not  go  out  of 
their  selfish  way  for  any  purpose  say  it  will  not  last. 
But  what  the  future  is  going  to  do  with  the  movement 
I  do  not  know,  and  it  is  not  for  me  to  try  to  divine. 
It  is  for  me,  it  is  for  all  of  us  who  say  we  love  God, 
to  love  our  brothers  also,  and  to  do  what  we  can  to 
save  the  fallen  brothers  we  see  about  us  to-day.  To- 
day if  we  hear  God's  voice  calling  us  to  Good  Samari- 
tanship,  let  us  not  harden  our  hearts.  We  can  leave 
the  future  of  the  movement  in  God's  hands,  but  it  is 
for  us  to  have  an  understanding  of  our  own  times  to 
know  what  we  ought  to  do.  And  we  ought  to  lift  up 
the  man  that  is  down.  We  cannot  get  away  from  the 
fact  that  this  is  our  duty.  And  if  we  do  this  duty  that 
lies  at  our  hand  to-day  we  shall  make  it  all  the  easier 
for  our  children  to  do  their  duty  in  their  day  and  gen- 
eration. 

A  minister  was  talking  to  me  about  his  mother  in  a 
most  pathetic  way.  He  was  a  tall  man.  I  listened 
with  becoming  gravity,  and  looked  up  at  him  and 

222 


WILL    CATCH-MY-PAL    LAST? 

asked :  "Is  your  mother  alive  ?"  He  looked  down  and 
said  in  a  tone  that  made  my  heart  almost  sink  within 
me:  "Ah,  no;  she's  not  alive;  she's  not  alive;  she's 
dead.  But — she  was  alive." 

I  am  grateful  to  say  that  I  cannot  thus  speak  of  the 
Catch-my-Pal  movement.  If  I  did  there  are  hundreds 
of  redeemed  lives  throughout  the  land  that  would  tell 
me  how  I  lied. 

Beside  my  brother's  manse  in  county  Monaghan, 
Ireland,  is  a  churchyard.  In  that  churchyard  is  a 
vault.  On  that  vault  is  this  inscription  (names  are 
changed)  : 

HERE  LIE  THE  REMAINS  OF 

MR.  AND  MRS.  WILLIAM  BLANK, 

OF  THE  TOWN  AND  COUNTY  OF  MONAGHAN, 

BOTH  DECEASED. 

The  remains  of  the  Catch-my-Pal  movement  are  all 
over  the  country.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that  these 
remains  are  not  deceased. 

Many  persons  who  have  been  living  in  drunken  sin 
have  forsaken  their  ways  and  have  returned  unto  the 
Lord  Who  has  had  mercy  on  them,  and  to  their  God 
Who  has  abundantly  pardoned.  Many  persons  who 
used  to  go  out  to  wallow  in  the  drink  gutter  and  to 
return  to  their  hearth  stones  with  the  music  of  hell, 
the  drunkard's  gurgle,  in  their  throats,  have  come  to 
know  how  true  are  the  old  words:  "Ye  shall  go  out 
with  joy,  and  be  led  forth  with  peace :  the  mountains 
and  hills  shall  break  forth  before  you  into  singing, 
and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands. 
Instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come  up  the  fir  tree,  and 
instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up  the  myrtle  tree :  and 
it  shall  be  to  the  Lord  for  a  name,  for  AN  EVER- 
LASTING SIGN  THAT  SHALL  NOT  BE  CUT 
OFF." 

223 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

"I  know  that  safe  with  Him  remains, 

Protected  by  His  power, 
What  I've  committed  to  His  trust 
Till  the  decisive  hour. 

"Then  will  He  own  His  servant's  name 

Before  His  Father's  face, 
And  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
Appoint  my  soul  a  place." 


224 


APPENDIX 

SUMMARY  OF  METHODS  AND  OF  RESULTS 
FOR  READY  REFERENCE 

I.    METHODS 

LET  me  state  some  of  the  leading  ideas  at  the  back 
and  heart  of  the  movement: 

1 i )  We  do  not  assume  that  any  man  wants  to  go  to 
hell.    We  assume  that  the  worst  man  wants  to  go  to 
heaven,  and  we  try  to  give  him  a  chance.     He  is  a 
diamond  in  the  rough,  to  be  cut  and  polished  for  the 
crown  of  Jesus.    I  wish  this  movement  to  be  known 
as  a  Good  Samaritan  of  the  twentieth  century  that 
will  pass  no  man  or  woman  by. 

(2)  We  lay  great  stress  on  publicity  of  pledge- 
signing.    A  man  will  probably  fall  if  he  is  alone.   The 
sense  of  Brotherhood  saves.     He  will  feel  on  sure 
ground  if  he  knows  he  is  surrounded  by  a  host  of 
others  who  are  all  striving  after  the  same  end  as  him- 
self. 

(3)  We  believe  the  greatest  drinkers  are  fitted  to 
be  the  best  workers,  as  they  know  their  pals'  tempta- 
tions and  how  to  approach  them  with  a  view  to  win- 
ning them  for  sobriety.     We  ask  the  men  who  have 
been  making  the  problem  to  go  out  and  solve  it.    And 
certainly  we  have  found  our  best  workers  among  those 
who  were  formerly  the  worst  drinkers.     We  put  the 
responsibility  on  the  men  and  women,  instead  of  on  the 
officers. 

(4)  We  believe  that  there  should  be  counter-attrac- 

225 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

tions  to  the  saloon  in  almost  every  street  in  our  towns, 
and  we  have  opened  many  in  Ireland.  Men  do  not  love 
the  drink  so  much  as  they  love  the  fellowship  they 
get  in  drinking  with  their  friends.  If  the  Christian 
community  would  provide  up-to-date  Temperance  sa- 
loons, more  comfortable  in  every  way  than  the  licensed 
saloons,  these  would  be  patronised  in  a  way  that  would 
surprise  the  most  hopeful  of  us.  Men  and  women 
say  they  go  to  the  saloons  because  they  have  no  other 
places  to  go  to.  If  other  places  were  provided  in  such 
a  way  as  to  attract,  instead  of  to  repel,  as  is  often  the 
case,  people  would  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  going  into 
drink-shops.  If  they  passed  a  temperance  saloon  to 
go  into  a  saloon,  it  would  then  be  known  it  was  for 
alcohol  they  did  so,  and  the  sense  of  shame  would  as- 
sert itself.  Public  opinion  would  then  have  a  method 
of  making  itself  felt.  And,  after  all,  it  is  public  opin- 
ion that  does  the  work. 

(5)  We  have  great  sympathy  with  the  tempted. 
They  are  children  in  will  power.    If  a  child  falls  down 
the  stairs,  why  does  it  fall  ?    Because  it  was  up.    Many 
who  sign  will  fall.    They  were  up.    If  they  were  up 
once,  they  can  be  raised  up  again.    And,  in  this  move- 
ment, if  a  man  falls,  there  are  plenty  of  his  pals  to 
lift  him  up  again.    His  rescue  is  not  left  to  those  who 
are  known  outstandingly  as  Christian  workers.     The 
officer  directs  operations,  but  the  man  in  the  ranks  is 
the  most  immediate  and  the  best  saviour  of  his  fellow. 
As  often  as  a  man  falls  we  try  to  lift  him  up  again. 

(6)  We  believe  in  weekly  meetings  for  recruiting 
purposes.    Enthusiasm  is  likely  to  die  if  it  is  not  often 
fed.    There  are  too  many  men  being  lost,  so  we  should 
not  lose  time.    Meetings,  while  run  on  religious  lines, 
should  all  be  as  bright  and  happy  as  possible,  and  not 
necessarily  devoted  to  temperance  all  the  time.     The 
interest  of  men  and  women  in  all  sorts  of  subjects 
should  be  fostered.    At  every  meeting,  after  the  new 
recruits  are  enrolled;  all  present  repeat  the  pledge  after 

226 


APPENDIX 

the  President.  The  pledge  is:  "For  God  and  Home 
and  country,  I  promise,  by  God's  help,  to  abstain 
from  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  beverages,  and  to  do  all 
that  in  me  lies  to  promote  the  cause  of  Total  Ab- 
stinence by  getting  others  to  join  the  Union."  After 
the  repetition  of  the  Pledge  with  uplifted  hand,  all 
members  shut  their  hands  as  the  sign  of  Christian  de- 
termination and  say  word  by  word  in  unison : 

"WE— WILL— SEE— THIS— THING-- 
THROUGH." 


II. — RESULTS 

The  movement  has,  in  many  respects,  exceeded  the 
expectations  of  even  its  most  sanguine  supporters. 
From  all  quarters  the  remarkable  testimony  comes 
to  me  that  generally  the  worst  drinkers  are  proving 
themselves  the  best  pledge-keepers.  Those  in  "the 
Trade"  expected  the  crusade  to  collapse  at  Christmas, 

1909.  But  it  did  not.     Then  it  was  prophesied  it 
would  collapse  at  the  General  Election  in  January, 

1910.  But  it  did  not.     Other  holidays  and  extraor- 
dinary occasions  were  being  looked  to  in  1910  for  an 
indication  that  Catch-my-Pal  would  fall;  but  it  firmly 
held  its  ground  through  them  all,  and  now,  at  the  end 
of  five  years,  it  continues  as  a  means  of  blessing  to 
homes  all  over  the  United  Kingdom  and  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

( I )  The  movement  has  given  temperance  workers  a 
new  hope.  It  has  been  proved  that  work  among  the 
drunkards  and  drinkers  is  not  so  hopeless  as  was  once 
thought.  It  is  a  characteristic  of  this  movement  that 
it  gathers  up  most  of  the  worst  cases  in  every  town  it 
enters.  The  children  of  the  drinkers  who  are  being 
reclaimed  now  have  an  example  at  the  fireside  which 
will  be  far  more  potent  in  its  preventive  and  saving 

227 


THE  HAPPY  ART  OF  CATCHING  MEN 

influence  than  all  the  temperance  addresses  that  were 
ever  delivered.  Once  we  win  the  drinkers  we  shall 
have  their  children  as  well. 

(2)  The  movement  has  united  the- churches  in  Ire- 
land.   It  bids  fair  to  be  the  means  of  opening  up  a  way 
from  the  heart  of  one  church  to  that  of  another.    The 
spirit   of   brotherhood   which   has   manifested    itself 
among  the  members  of  the  Union,  chiefly  through  the 
wearing  of  the  little  badge,  is  proving  a  potent  factor 
in  the  union  of  the  churches. 

(3)  The  movement  is  becoming  a  feeder  of  the 
churches.    People  who  never  came  to  church,  because 
of  their  indulgence  in  drink,  are  reported  as  becoming 
staunch    church    members.      The    gulf    between    the 
churches   and  the  labouring  men  is  being  bridged. 
The  men  are  all  looking  to  the  ministers  as  their 
natural  leaders  in  the  movement,  and  where  ministers 
have  not  given  the  lead  men  are  filled  with  a  wonderful 
curiosity  as  to  the  reason  why. 

(4)  The  movement  is  manifesting  many  spiritual 
signs.    From  all  over  the  land  I  receive  word  of  great 
drinkers  becoming  devoted  servants  of  Our  Lord.    We 
are  not  content  to  stop  with  mere  total  abstinence. 
We  aim  at  securing  the  whole  man  for  God  and  purity 
of  life.    Our  bodies  are  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  movement  is   religious  at  heart,   as  all  reform 
movements  must  be  if  they  are  to  be  truly  successful. 

(5)  The  movement  has   worked  and   is   working 
wonders  on  the  material  side  of  life.    This  is  seen  in 
the  better  clothing  of  those  who  used  to  spend  nearly 
their  all  in  drink,  and  also  in  much  cleaner  houses, 
better  spread  tables,  clear  rent-books,  and  "squared" 
grocers'  bills. 

In  many  places  the  Catch-my-Pal  has  proved  to 
be  a  drink-quake.  As  a  speaker  said  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church:  "One 
thing  is  sure,  that  however  certain  persons  may  mini- 
mise or  under-estimate  the  work,  our  enemy  does  not 

228 


APPENDIX 

belittle  it.  The  opposition  of  'the  Trade'  is  the  clear 
proof  of  its  consternation.  Usually  it  is  quietly  con- 
temptuous of  temperance  meetings  and  temperance 
work,  but  this  crusade  it  hates  like  poison,  and  uses 
every  means  to  discredit  and  weaken  it.  No  wonder, 
when  the  results  are  such  as  they  are !" 

The  responsibility  of  saving  the  community  from 
drink  is  left  on  the  shoulders  of  the  members.  Min- 
isters and  other  Christian  workers  can  never  overtake 
the  programme  unless  every  man  and  every  woman 
does  his  and  her  duty.  Wellington  could  not  have  won 
Waterloo  or  Nelson  Trafalgar,  if  the  rank  and  file  on 
the  field  and  fleet  had  not  done  their  duty.  The  people 
have  the  problem  in  the  hollow  of  their  hand.  Would 
to  God  they  would  respond  to  the  call,  and  rise  and 
smite  and  slay  and  "destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." 
Jesus  Christ  founded  His  Church  for  this  purpose. 
Let  us  carry  out  His  purpose,  and  He  will  bless  His 
people  with  peace,  joy,  purity,  prosperity,  and  love, 
such  as  they  have  never  experienced  before. 

We  hope  there  will  be  no  sounding  of  retreat  by  the 
Catch-my-Pal  bugle  till  every  city,  and  town,  and  vil- 
lage, and  hamlet  in  America  is  won  for  Total  Ab- 
stinence. God  Almighty  wants  to  save  this  great 
country  from  its  greatest  foe,  and  who  will  say  He  is 
not  going  to  work  towards  this  end  by  the  instrument 
called  "Catch-my-Pal,"  which  means  sympathy, 
brotherhood,  and  the  heart  of  fire? 

WAKE  UP,  UNITED  STATES!! 

AND 
SEE  THIS  THING  THROUGH!! 


229 


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